Thousands of Swans Flock to Vanderhoof

0:00It's April 5th. Welcome to Vancouver News today, powered by AI, uncory with the story. Thousands of trumpeter and tundra swans are swarming Riverside Park in Vanderhoof, British Columbia, for their spring migration stopover. Every year around March to early April, these birds flocked by the thousands to the Nechaco River area, before heading north to the Arctic. This season's turnout feels bigger than ever, pulling in crowds from across northern BC. The spots of key rest haven, thanks to the Nechaco River Migratory Bird Sanctuary, set up back in 1944. It offers safe waters and nearby farm fields for the swans to refuel and chill before the long haul. They hang on the ice in mornings, hit the fields by afternoon, and return to roost at night. Locals and visitors can't get enough. Birders, photographers, families all showing up to catch the spectacle. Folks like longtime Shutterbud Terrell Bodner call it phenomenal, while Vanderhoof resident Paul Collard, boasts it's the top migration view in BC, maybe even North America, even

1:03the mayor says it's a privilege that lights up the town. These swans bounce back from the brink trumpeter numbers dip below 70 wild birds in the 1930s from overhunting. Local efforts, by feeding programs from farmers and trappers, plus protected lands, turned it around. Retired teacher Gerder Rasmus knows the comeback's deliberate and thriving year after year. The swans still pouring in, Vanderhoof's buzzing as a nature hotspot, drawing more eyes to this wild display right in their backyard.