They’ll be leaving soon. By the end of February or early March, they’ll be winging their way to Northern states, where they will nest and raise their young. But if you can take a drive to Heber Springs before then, you can see the scores of majestic trumpeter swans that make their winter home in Cleburne County. This is one of the most incredible gatherings of wildlife that can be seen by Arkansans within the borders of The Natural State.
I went up to see them again this January, as I have done several times each winter since 1998. When I first viewed these gorgeous birds, North America’s largest species of waterfowl, there were only a few dozen on a single lake. On my most recent trip, I counted more than 200 on three lakes.
Trumpeter swans hadn’t been seen in Arkansas for more than 80 years when the first members of this modern group showed up on Magness
Lake just outside Heber Springs in January 1991. Four avid birdwatchers were driving by the lake when they saw the swans and stopped for a better look. They were astounded to see the species because decades had passed since the last reported sighting of the swans in Arkansas. When one of the birds called, though, there was no doubt as to the birds’ identity. The loud, trumpetlike sound from which the species takes its name is a dead giveaway.
Another quieter, more common species—the tundra swan—is seen each winter in our state, too. It looks very similar to its larger relatives and sometimes shows up on the Heber Springs lakes. But at the time those first trumpeters were seen in 1991 — three dusky-brown juveniles that had apparently been pushed off course by a winter storm — the North American population of that species was still recovering after years at the brink of extinction. The trumpeter swans were an amazing find.
Back then, a farmer named Perry Lindner owned Magness Lake, a small oxbow of the Little Red River. He often fed corn to wintering waterfowl there, and he welcomed those three new visitors, too, spreading shelled corn along the shore for them to eat. During the swans’ almost two-month-long visit, scores of people drove to the lake to see them.
No one expected the swans would return to Magness Lake after their first visit, but they must have liked what they found because they came again and brought friends and families. Two adults showed up at Christmas in 1991—an adult female banded in Minnesota and her mate. They stayed until the end of February, along with two more adults that arrived in January. The next winter, the banded female and her mate returned with three cygnets (juvenile swans). Since then, the numbers have fluctuated, but in recent years, more than 150 swans have been spotted on the lake at one time. Several nearby lakes now also host wintering populations.
To view the swans, drive east toward Wilburn on Arkansas 110 from its intersection with the Arkansas 5/25 bypass on the eastern edge of Heber Springs. Go 3.9 miles from the intersection, and turn left onto Hays Road (Little Red River Bible Church is directly across from the turn). The parking area beside Magness Lake is just before the S curve about one-half mile down Hays Road.
Magness Lake is on private land, now owned by the family of Larry and Patti Eason. Visitors are asked to park only in the designated area and leave pets at home. Please avoid littering, climbing on the fence or blocking gated roads.
In recent years, the trumpeter swans have wintered on two nearby lakes as well. Both are on Hiram Road and provide viewing areas with gravel parking lots. To reach these lakes from Hays Road, continue on Arkansas 110 east toward Wilburn for 1 mile, and turn right on Cutoff Road (gravel). Continue 0.7 miles to paved Hiram Road, and turn left. The first lake is on the left, 2.1 miles from this turn. You’ll pass through a white pipe gate into the parking area. The second lake is 0.6 miles past this one. You’ll see a large red-and-white “Water for Sale” sign at the left-hand turn into the parking area. These, too, are privately owned lakes, so please show all courtesies.
The trumpeters usually arrive around mid-November and stay until late February. You’re likely to see at least a few, regardless of the time of day, but the best viewing and photo opportunities often are near dawn and dusk. Many guests bring deer corn to feed the birds and draw them near. This is OK, but other items should not be fed to the swans, and people should not try to hand-feed or touch them.
In addition to trumpeter swans, visitors often see the smaller tundra swans and a variety of ducks and geese, including ring-necked ducks, buffleheads, mallards, canvasbacks, Canada geese and snow geese.
On my most recent visit, I arrived at sunrise and marveled at several dozen trumpeters that came to eat corn I scattered. Other birds soon flew in, too, touching down with loud honks and splashing. Many were juveniles dressed in dusky plumage, but most were snow-white adults with jet-black bills and legs.
Ordinarily, trumpeter swans are hard to approach. The Heber Springs birds have become accustomed to humans, however, allowing people extraordinary opportunities
to view and photograph them. Standing within a few feet of North America’s largest species of waterfowl is an experience few observers ever forget. The swans are gigantic, sometimes weighing 38 pounds and standing 4 feet tall. They are strikingly beautiful, with long, graceful necks, snowy feathers and expressive black eyes.
I photographed flying swans, swimming swans, feeding swans, preening swans and resting swans. I snapped pictures when they stood tall on the water and flapped their wings, and captured images of family groups with parent birds and cygnets together.
I did not see any swans wearing the bright-colored neck bands from restoration programs in other states. But on previous visits, I’ve recorded numbers on the neck bands of several trumpeters. Information returned from the federal Bird Banding Laboratory indicates the Magness Lake swans come from as far away as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa.
If you’ve never seen the swans, by all means try to find time to go this year. If you can’t, then plan a visit next fall when the swans return once again. To stand on the banks of these Cleburne County lakes and see scores of trumpeter swans is an experience you definitely don’t want to miss.