Reports that a swan had been shot on Gaspee Point ruffled feathers among bird lovers last week, but an investigation by the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) concludes that the bird was most likely a victim of natural predation.

“Based on the necropsy, we believe that a coyote killed the swan, which was perhaps weakened by bird flu, and that it was not shot and killed by a person,” said DEM Public Affairs Officer Michael J. Healey. “Because there is no direct evidence of a crime, our Division of Law Enforcement investigation is closed pending new or developing information.”

A Canine Culprit

Claims of murder most fowl first began circulating after the dead mute swan was discovered on the beach near Gaspee Point on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 9. The former Warwick police officer who discovered the bird called DEM after identifying what appeared to be bullet wounds on its chest and head. Swans are not legal game in Rhode Island even during waterfowl season (which ended Jan. 22).

A necropsy by State Veterinarian Dr. Scott Marshall revealed that the holes were actually created by a particularly sharp set of canine teeth, however. “Dr. Marshall found multiple sets of symmetrical puncture wounds on the throat and the neck and another set on the left pectoral area near the armpit if it was a person,” Healey said.

“All of these wounds were relatively shallow, but did a lot of damage to the underlying tissue consistent with the crush of a bite. All internal organs were intact. Before Dr. Marshall’s examination, a veterinarian at the wildlife clinic conducted an X-ray last week and didn’t find either a projectile lodged in the body or any broken bones.”

This modus operandi sounds typical of a coyote (although some have been known to hunt birds by building elaborate, cartoonish traps out of mail-order goods). This particular predator does not seem to have fared much better than its animated counterpart, however, based on the fact that it left its prey behind.

“Typically, coyotes eat what they hunt and catch,” Healey said. “Otherwise, it’s just inefficient spending all that energy hunting and not getting a protein payoff for it.  We hypothesize that in this instance, the swan likely caught bird flu, which made it vulnerable to a predator attack. Then, when the coyote attacked it, healthy swans saw what was going on and probably drove the coyote off.”

With a wingspan up to 8 feet in length and 30 pounds of pure muscle behind them, a pack of mute swans (cygnus olor) could easily leave a coyote with its tail between its legs.  Though powerful and majestic, swans are just as vulnerable to avian flu as any other bird.

Spread of Avian Flu is the Real Threat

“There are lots of mute swans in Gaspee and we have been seeing swans showing neurological symptoms associated with bird flu,” said Healey. “Typically, they swim in circles or behave in a disoriented state on land.”

On Feb. 13, DEM responded to a call of two other dead swans on Gaspee Point, one of which had no visible injuries. Preliminary examination by the State Veterinarian has suggested that these birds likely died of HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), but testing results, together with those of the original Swan Doe, have not yet returned.

The influenza strain has been ravaging both wild and domestic bird populations throughout the United States, and appears to have arrived in Rhode Island in June of 2022. The first documented case occurred in a seagull recovered from a beach in South Kingstown. In a statement after the first reported case among domesticated fowl back in October, Dr. Marshall noted that this outbreak is different from previous plagues because it “appears mostly to be spreading by wild bird-to-domestic bird contact versus laterally between poultry operations.”

Because of the virulence of this HPAI strain and the havoc it has already wreaked on commercial poultry operations, DEM is actively monitoring suspected cases among waterfowl. The agency welcomes tips at 401-789-0281 from anyone who witnesses a wild bird displaying symptoms of the disease, which can include discoordination, gasping noises, lethargy, tremors, and erratic behavior, such as wandering in circles or wings raised over the head.

A Century of Swans

Healey noted that the widespread consternation after the initial reports of the shooting is typical of stories involving swans. “Because they’re these big, beautiful, charismatic birds, it’s easy for people to get wrapped around the axle with a story like this,” he said. “In the big picture, swans can be ecologically devastating.”

Although it is illegal to hunt swans in Rhode Island, the birds are not protected and DEM has been actively engaged in managing their population.  The agency has intermittently discussed the possibility of making swans legal game; a management plan published in 2006 suggested that “hunting seasons would provide the most economical management tool for controlling Rhode Island’s mute swan populations,” but also noted that this approach may not have significant short-term effects and was likely to be controversial. The DEM shooting of a mute swan in Warwick Pond in 2013 generated significant local controversy.

“It’s beautiful to see swans floating on a salt marsh, but the reality is that the birds can destroy the entire marsh in just a few years,” Healey said. “They don’t eat vegetation the way cows do, just grazing on what’s above the ground.  They dig down and pull up the whole root, so the plant never grows back.  A swan can devour up to eight pounds of vegetation a day and then turn that into 2 pounds of solid waste, so a nest can wipe out an entire marsh quickly.”

As an invasive species, mute swans compete with native waterfowl for prime nesting spaces – and, given their size and aggressive nature, typically win. “There are no native swan species in Rhode Island,” said Dr. Charles Clarkson, the Director of Avian Research at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.  “They were introduced from Europe, originally for ornamental reasons: people were bringing them over to put in zoos, or to decorate ponds on private estates. Those birds escaped and quickly spread throughout the Atlantic Coast, and the numbers keep growing, from 2,000 in 1966 up to 14,000 in 2022, based on our most recent bird atlas.”

The first colony of mute swans in Rhode Island was documented on Block Island in 1923. In the century since then, the birds have established a substantial foothold throughout the state’s coastal communities. The population hit a high of 1500 in 1999, but population management efforts have reduced that figure to roughly 500.

“Because swans pose such a threat to native species like black ducks, wood ducks, and hooded mergansers, it’s important to keep their populations under control,” Dr. Clarkson said, though he also noted that the Audubon Society would prefer to accomplish this without a large-scale mortality event.

Other population control options include egg-addling and targeted removal programs.  In the meantime, it seems we can count on some four-legged assistance in keeping the birds under control.