Tundra swans arrive in Aylmer area

The first dozen or so Tundra swans of 2015 showed up at Aylmer Wildlife Management Area next to the Ontario Police College along Hacienda Road northeast of Aylmer on Thursday morning, March 19. The Tundra Swan Line, a free telephone service set up by Eastlink (the former Amtelecom) 30 years ago (1985) and managed by the Aylmer-Malahide Museum and Archives, reported on Monday, March 16 that some of the large white waterfowl were seen in the Aylmer area but had not arrived at the Aylmer Wildlife Management Area. Elgin Stewardship Council volunteers were to put out feed corn at the Wildlife Management Area each morning to try to attract the swans to the ponds there. The migrating swans normally arrive at the Wildlife Management Area in early to mid-March but the waterfowl were delayed this year, and last year, due to the frozen waterways and fields. The swans usually begin their northward migration from their wintering grounds in the United States in early March. For about a month once they arrive, the birds will feed and rest at the Wildlife Management Area and other Southwestern Ontario sites on their way to their breeding grounds in the high Arctic. The Tundra Swan Line, (519) 773-7926, is updated every day and a bird count is provided once the swans arrive at the Wildlife Management Area. For more information about the birds than the Tundra Swan Line provides, call the museum at (519) 773-9723.