Trumpeter Swans ~ Autumn Colours Pond Reflection Goldstream Alaska

It is so amazing that I spotted this bevy near Fairbanks on their migration!!! I researched them and here is what I have found!! "In July 2006, with a generous grant from Conoco-Phillips Alaska, the Swan Research Program began a long-term study of Tundra Swan migration from Alaska's North Slope to the United States’ Mid-Atlantic region. We hope to learn about the way swans adjust their migration to changing environmental conditions. Fifty-nine Tundra Swans were neckbanded in the Kuparuk Oilfields on Alaska’s North Slope. Five of these swans are being monitored by satellite transmitters attached to their neckbands." Here is a link for a most excellent map of their migration route!! ~ http://trumpeterswans.org/Sections/Resea rch/SRP/SRPCurrentTunMigMaps.html ~ http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/a vian_influenza/species/species.php?code= TUSW ~ "Tundra swans are polytypic, with three recognized subspecies: the nominate form (Whistling Swan) in North America, C. c. bewickii in Western Eurasia and C. c. jankowski in eastern Asia. The validity of jankowski has been questioned because of the lack of any clear division between this and bewickii. The nominate form is thought to breed as far west as eastern Chukotka. In Alaska, birds breeding on the North Slope migrate eastward during autumn and winter in the Atlantic Flyway (Limpert et al. 1991, Limpert and Earnst 1994), whereas birds breeding in western Alaska migrate down the Pacific Flyway (Ely et al. 1998). A small non-migratory population on the lower Alaska Peninsula (Izembek NWR, Dau and Sarvis 2002) and Unimak Island nearly doubles in size in winter to approximately 600 birds. Extensive marking to the north along the Alaska Peninsula and less so elsewhere in Alaska has not indicated the source of the additional swans. It is not known what Alaskan population of Tundra swans is most likely to migrate to Asia. The Tundra swan is one of the lowest ranked waterfowl to make the final list of 26 species of concern for Asian H5N1 transmission in the National Plan, primarily because there is only weak evidence supporting their presence in eastern Asia. It will also be very hard to identify the likely small fraction of birds migrating to or from Asia, so obtaining samples from birds that are most likely exposed to Asian H5N1 will be very difficult. In addition, large numbers (> 30) of Tundra swans have rarely been captured and banded in Alaska. It is unknown where the large concentrations of non-breeding Tundra swans that use the outer Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in early July go to molt. Swans have, however, been one of the primary species groups affected by Asian H5N1 in Asia and Eastern Europe, and Tundra swans have been identified as a high priority species in the Pacific Flyway."