Trumpeter Swans

Central Wisconsin is home to endangered trumpeter swans - including several nesting pairs. Unfortunately, power lines are one of the swan's biggest threats, killing or injuring dozens of birds each year.

To help protect this beautiful species, Alliant Energy partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to install reflective devices called “Firefly Bird Diverters.”

These heavy-duty plastic cards have a special reflective coating that is highly visible to birds. The cards hang from a swivel attached by a clamp to a power line or a tower guy wire. The card rotates in the wind, alerting birds of obstructions; the coating glows at night for up to 10 hours.

Alliant Energy purchased 200 diverters in October 2004; crews installed the reflectors on power lines crossing land owned by Rezin Cranberry Corp. An Alliant Energy biologist will monitor the project with DNR assistance.

“We've had several nesting pairs of trumpeter swans on the farm over the past seven years,” says Karen Rifleman, co-owner of Rezin Cranberry Corp. “It's been a pleasure to watch them successfully produce families and each year we wait for their return in the spring. We see this cooperative effort between the DNR and Alliant Energy as a very positive step toward solving this problem.”

Wisconsin's trumpeter swan recovery effort started in 1987. There are now 80 nesting pairs and an estimated 400 to 450 total birds in the state population.