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Resuscitated Elegance: The Trumpeter Swan
When you look at the Trumpeter Swan specimen in the Orma J. Smith Natural History Museum, you see resuscitated elegance. The Trumpeter Swan is at once an inspiration of art, a study subject in the sciences, and a well-connected creature that has relationships with multitudinous flora and fauna alike. These different lenses converge on the point of the birds being elegant symbols of ecological rejuvenation.
The Trumpeter Swan has been depicted in multiple fields of the arts, including in visual art, literature, and music. No matter the field, though, these representations all share a motif of elegance. John J. Audubon was an ornithologist during the 19th-century who authored and painted the representations of birds in Birds of America. In the text accompanying his painting of the Trumpeter Swan, he refers to the necks of the birds as "graceful curves". This gracefulness is also mentioned in E.B. White's children's book The Trumpet of the Swan, which is about a young Trumpeter Swan that cannot call naturally so uses a trumpet instead. Throughout the book, White uses words like "graceful" to describe the birds' appearances, also emphasizing the musicality of their calls. Finally, swans are represented in famous classical music such as Tchaikovsky's ballet, Swan Lake, and Camille Saint-Saens' The Swan. Both of these pieces are musically and historically marked by connections to refinement and culture (especially since watching ballets was a largely aristocratic activity). The arts serve to illustrate the Trumpeter Swan's graceful beauty.
This map shows the current range of the Trumpeter Swan
A Trumpeter Swan glides gracefully across the silky waters of a pond in Deschutes, Oregon
Photo courtesy of:
Lehman, Frank. Trumpeter Swan. 22 Apr. 2017, Macaulay Library, https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog
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This map shows the current range of the Trumpeter Swan
Despite being deceased, this Trumpeter Swan specimen in the Orma J. Smith Natural History Museum still embodies the pristine refinement of its living counterparts.
This map shows the current range of the Trumpeter Swan
This map shows the current range of Trumpeter Swans in North America.
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Photo courtesy of:
“Trumpeter Swan Range Map.” The Cornell Lab: All About Birds, 2019, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Trumpeter_Swan/maps-range
The sciences empirically support the idea of Trumpeter Swans being a resuscitated species, as they were quite literally brought back from the brink of extinction. This is a species of swan that was overhunted until they almost went extinct in the early 20th Century. It was only after changes of legislation and long-term conservation efforts that they reached healthy population numbers again. Now, scientists view Trumpeter Swans like they do other organisms – as study subjects and ecological actors. This scientific interest expands to organizations such as the Trumpeter Swan Society, an ornithological society dedicated to the bird. This organization, and others like it, focuses on statistics about the swans' breeding habits, diet, population, and locations. While the species is viewed as being saved, scientists and amateur bird-enthusiasts are working together to ensure that it does not succumb to modern risks.
In Anna Tsing’s The Mushroom at the End of the World, she explores the ideas of interrelatedness and relationships a lot. In order to fully understand an entity, it is important to also understand it’s relationships. Some of the Trumpeter Swans’ relationships are ecological, concerning food webs they are part of as well as their niches in ecosystems. Other relationships are less utilitarian. These include that of John Audubon, who simultaneously respected the creatures for their incredible beauty and used their feathers as drawing quills. In a similarly human – but more humane – relationship, curator Stephen Bouffard spent around 30 years at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service studying these and other birds. He recalls both their beauty and the fact that on one occasion he and his colleagues had to drive with wounded Trumpeter Swans in the front seat of their truck. Relationships surrounding these birds combine the arts and sciences to emphasize both the fragility of their populations and the majestic beauty they embody.
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When walking through the Orma J. Smith museum, this waterfowl may seem to be just another taxidermy bird in a museum. However, it is so much more than that, something that the arts, sciences, and relationships can only begin to show. The Trumpeter Swan is an elegant, musical, beautiful, and valuable survivor.
This map shows the current range of the Trumpeter Swan
One of the curators at the Orma J. Smith Natural History Museum, Stephen Bouffard has a lot of experience with cranes and swans alike. Pictured here, he holds a Trumpeter Swan