A swan song - Environmental Science & Technology (ACS Publications)

A swan song. William H. Glaze. Environ. Sci. Technol. , 1999, 33 (3), pp 57A–57A. DOI: 10.1021/es992647t. Publication Date (Web): June 9, 2011...
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© 1999 American Chemical Society

ecently, I had the good fortune to spend a long weekend on Ocracoke Island, one of the barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. Before leaving the mainland, we detoured a bit to visit the Lake Mattamuskeet Wildlife Refuge operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The largest natural lake in North Carolina, Lake Mattamuskeet averages only two feet in depth and lies in the middle of the Atlantic Flyway. It is a valuable migration and wintering habitat for waterfowl and other migratory birds. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service (http://refuges.fws.gov/NWRSFiles/Index.html), waterfowl numbers on the lake exceed 100,000 each winter and include snow geese (5000-8000), Canada geese (5000-10,000), tundra swans (25,000-35,000) and 22 species of ducks (90,000-150,000). During our brief visit to the refuge we were privileged to see 3. good sampling of birds, including the marvelous tundra (or whistling) swans, Cygnus columbianus. On their flight south, these large and stately birds can achieve speeds up to 100 miles per hour with a tail wind and have been sighted at elevations of 6000 to 8000 feet Their c