Val and Gus, the trumpeter swan couple living at the Sunriver Nature Center, have laid five eggs this spring and are currently nesting. 

SUNRIVER — Gus and Valentina, the two trumpeter swans living at the Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory, laid five eggs this spring, and are attempting to get their cygnets from last year to embark on adulthood so they can focus on their new offspring once they hatch.

On Tuesday, Gus and Valentina, the two love birds, greeted each other with a graceful bobbing of their heads, a rustling of their wings and the distinct trumpeting call the species is known for. The call is typically a way for swans to bond and communicate with each other, but when it comes to Gus and Val, it is the language of love, said Kelli Neumann, program director at the nature center.

“That is a courtship behavior. They are greeting each other excitedly. I think that is why they are called trumpeter swans. The noise that they make and their heads going up and down like that remind me of the keys on a trumpet,” Neumann said.

Back on the couple’s private island several feet from the shore of Lake Aspen, the newly laid eggs sit in a warm cluster surrounded by a ring of Val’s white plumage. Nature center officials are not sure when the eggs will hatch.

The eggs are a welcome sign for the species at it continues to recover from being hunted to near-extinction around the turn of the 20th century, when no swans remained in Oregon. As of last year, about 35 trumpeter swans were living year-round in Oregon.

Sunriver swan legacy

Valentina, or Val, got her name after coming to the nature center on Valentine’s Day of 2021, following the death of Gracie, her predecessor, who was found dead in October 2020. Gracie was a beloved resident of the nature center and helped repopulate the threatened species in Oregon.

Gus came to the nature center in May 2019 from the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary in Augusta, Michigan, hence his name. He replaced Gracie’s previous mate, Chuck, who was illegally shot and killed on Thanksgiving Day 2017. In 2021, Val and Gus did not nest together and needed time to get to know each other.

Last year the two swans produced three eggs, all of which hatched. But only two cygnets survived. Those cygnets, now about a year old, remain unnamed and are of unknown sexes and will soon be brought to a waterfowl habitat at a zoo in Pocatello, Idaho. There, they will be able to reach full maturity before being released into the wild, Neumann said.

‘Learning to swan’

The two cygnets from last year were swimming around the lake together Tuesday and staying clear of their parents, who were busy preparing for the newborns. At one point, Gus chased away one of the cygnets, both of which can fly, but do not have much of an incentive to leave their comfortable life in Sunriver.

“There was definitely a distinct cooling between the parents and the cygnets about a month ago where as before they were one big happy family, Neumann said. “The adults started pushing them away from food, and making sure they stayed away from the female. So, they have definitely been encouraged to go do their own thing while their parents focused on the nest.”

They are “learning how to swan” by watching their parents interact, Neumann said.

“I am really excited these guys have stayed here year-round. They’ve gotten to observe an established couple building a nest and doing courtship behavior and they’ve gotten to fly and stretch their wings and gain the muscle they need for migrations. So, I think these two are off to a really great start.”

Couple’s cygnets heading to Idaho

Gary Ivey, a past president of the Trumpeter Swan Society, said the two cygnets will go to Idaho next week. First, however, the two swans will have to be captured so they can get their wings clipped, and be inspected in preparation for their trip to Idaho, Ivey said.

“In the wild, they wouldn’t tolerate their young anywhere near their territory,” Ivey said. “That pond there is their territory. And in the wild they would totally run the cygnets off and the cygnets would get harassed enough by their parents that they would abandon the area and move off to some other wetland where they don’t get chased.”

In other swan news, one of Chuck and Gracie’s cygnets, Finley, born in 2017 returned to Sunriver and was spotted at Lake Penhollow, said Jay Bowerman, principal researcher at Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory.