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Graceful and Beautiful
Two Trumpeter Swans bank to the south during the golden hour of an early March evening. They were so beautiful and graceful as they flew a couple of slow, sweeping circles over a lake in McHenry County, Illinois, their white wings catching the last warm light of the day against a soft, pastel sky.
A comeback written in flight
The decline of Trumpeter Swans began in the 1700s as wetlands were drained for agriculture and development. By the mid-1800s, their pure white feathers were highly prized in the millinery trade, pushing the species toward near extinction. By the early 1900s, only a small population remained in Alaska, with just 69 Trumpeter Swans left in the lower 48 states, clustered in the Rocky Mountains. Across the Midwest and the Mississippi Flyway, they had all but disappeared before conservation efforts helped bring them back. (Source: Audubon)
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