Tundra swans are back at the Thedford Bog.
About 2,000 of the migratory birds, which tend to stop near the Lambton Heritage Museum in March on their way back to the Canadian Arctic from Chesapeake Bay in the United States, were first spotted about a week ago resting on the former wetland, the museum’s Colleen Inglis said.
“I would anticipate they’ll stick around for a couple of weeks,” she added.
The swans’ migratory stop has long been an annual attraction, drawing spectators to line the roads with binoculars and cameras.
“It’s quite something just to stand by the side of the road and hear their calls and hear their wings,” Inglis said.
More may still come in March, while a couple hundred were even spotted one day in January, she said.
“It was a surprise to see them then,” she said, noting tundra swans have also been spotted in December on the grounds in recent years amid the changing climate.
“It seems like some maybe stick closer around the area, stay longer,” she said.
The mass arrival of swans though has been in March in recent years and, for most years, the museum has kept track, she said.
Some years there have been as many as 15,000 tundra swans resting on the bog, attracted by the melt water of spring and the remnants of the prior year’s corn crop, she said.
A museum exhibit on the swans also went up last week and will likely stay up until some time in April, she said.
It features information about the swans’ biology, their migration and why they stop in Lambton Shores while also including activities and trivia, as well as a preserved tundra swan, Inglis said.
Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and students, $3 for children and $15 for families, while children three and younger are free, she said. The museum is open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 am to 4 pm, and Thursdays from 11 am to 8:30 pm
Migration updates are available by calling the museum at 519-243-2600.