M had her first water retrieve of the season tonight. I normally won't have put her in the water this early because it is still cold. She has been going in an out since the ice went out but asking her to make a retrieve is a bit different. Anyway tonight when I looked down at the pond I saw a pair of trumpeter swans. A fern fondler group in our area sold the community a bill of goods saying they were re-introducing these bird. They claimed that local archeologists had found swan bones in the middens of our indigenous people. They may well have but these would have been tundra swan bones as we are on the flight path for their seasonal migrations. We often saw them resting in a local wetland area. Anyway, the trumpeters, which were never indigenous to this area have spread like wild fire. They are on every pond, lake, river, puddle they can find BUT they are not taking over my ponds. These birds are nasty they drive out all the smaller water fowl ( we just put up mallard nesting boxes,0 they will kill goslings, and attack people, especially in white, if you get to close to their territory. Tonight it took almost a full box of popper loads, three blast from a high powered rifle and a bounce with the bumper gun (M'S retrieve) before they got the message that they were not welcome on my ponds. They left never to return I hope. I really don't know what is going to happen in this area as these bird increase in numbers year after year. Maybe wwe will have a swan hunting season like you do in some of your States. It sure wouldn't break my heart. These birds are beasts.