Majestic trumpeter swans, the largest of all waterfowl, whose wingspans can reach eight feet, are dying at a higher than normal rate in their winter haven in northern Puget Sound. And Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists think they know why.
They've counted 261 dead swans so far this winter in Whatcom County. That's about a 75 percent increase over the normal death rate in winter when their physical and environmental challenges are greatest.
"We believe and have some evidence that aspergililosis is playing a factor in the mortality," said state wildlife biologist Chris Danilson, while standing near a Skagit Valley field dotted with Trumpeter Swans and drenched in brilliant winter sunshine.
"It's a fungus that they'll usually pick up in the feed that they're eating," he said. "So a lot of times it's in the grains or corn, wastage in fields left over from the harvest. It can get moldy."
Comment: Then again perhaps there will be no thaw and no normal spring.