Cerro Gordo County's Mallard Marsh, several miles northwest of Mason City in Grant Township, is the site of a major success story in the effort to reintroduce trumpeter swans to the state. Thousands of these birds once nested in the state, but uncontrolled hunting and loss of wetland habitat cut their numbers to zero. The last nesting pair sighted in North Iowa prior to the 21st century was during the 19th.
In 2001, a juvenile released at Mallard Marsh during 1997 returned and, with her mate, successfully hatched --- the first time that had happened in more than a century.
Mallard Marsh remains the home of that swan and her family and eight family members were parked on the near shoreline of the marsh area's first pond when I drove up Friday morning. They didn't seem particularly bothered as I walked along the trail around the pond's north shore, but sailed out onto the water as I got closer --- honking all the way.
By the time I'd walked as far as the trail (a recently-clipped grass driveway) could take me, then returned and climbed the area's high prairie hill to have a good look around, the swans had scattered across the pond. It was a spectacular way to spend part of a Friday morning!
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