Wis. sees record number of nesting trumpeter swans

MADISON (AP) -- Wisconsin wildlife officials are seeing a record number of nesting trumpeter swans -- 25 years after the state began efforts to restore the bird.

Department of Natural Resources biologist Sumner Matteson says the state had 197 nesting trumpeter swan pairs in 2011. He says that number is 10 times the recovery goal set in the 1980s, when the state put the bird on its endangered species list.

Market hunting and demand for feathers had brought the birds to near-extinction. The birds have been monitored every year since 1989. Aerial surveys to find nests will start shortly.

Then biologists will check nests to see if eggs are viable. In the fall, biologists and volunteers will round up cygnets and put numbered bands on their necks to track them in the future.