These photographs mark a historic moment. This is the first successful breeding of Trumpeters in South West Ontario in over 100 years.
Extirpated from Ontario over 100 years ago, a program was introduced in 1982 to bring them back. In that time numbers have increased but nothing in the South West until this nesting pair successfully produced this year.
Locations of these nests are kept as secret as possible and only shared with members of the breeding program. So when I shared this site which is on a friend's private property they were excited and told me they only recently discussed that there has been none in South West Ontario since the start of the program.
This landmark success will hopefully be a starting point for the future of this species in the area.
The main threat to them are the invasive non-native Mute swans that are much more aggressive and threaten Trumpeter best sites.
