The Tern Lake trumpeter swan wounded with an arrow earlier this year was unable to fly south for the winter and has been left behind by its flock.
"(Witnesses) said the injured swan was walking around on the frozen ice and trying to fly but not having any luck," said Tasha DiMarzio, senior aviculturist for the Alaska SeaLife Center. "Apparently one bird kept circling and calling -- so we're assuming that that was the mate -- and then finally decided to leave."
A volunteer in a dry suit captured the bird Saturday to protect it from coyotes and other predators. It's now back in the hands of the SeaLife Center, where officials will decide where to send it next.
Jeanne Waite Follett, who lives in Moose Pass and had been keeping an eye on the bird since it was shot with the arrow, saw the swan swimming alone in a patch of water at the lake while driving home Friday night.
The lake was freezing fast. Other swans left earlier that day, she said.
Follett's neighbors tried to catch the bird using a dipnet and kayak that night. No luck, she said. "The swan got up on the ice and ran off."
A longtime volunteer for the SeaLife Center and her husband corralled the bird Saturday. "She basically just dove on it," Follett said.
SeaLife Center workers put the swan in a large dog kennel and drove it roughly 40 miles back to the center, where it would spend Halloween night in a deep indoor pool.
Employees joked that it looked like the swan seemed like it was kicking itself for ending up at the center again, DiMarzio said. "'Where I'd I go wrong? Why didn't I leave with my boyfriend? Why didn't I exercise my wing?' "
Scientists and swan watchers had hoped for a happier ending after a wildlife enthusiast had discovered the swan with a target arrow piercing its side in late August.
On Sept. 1, scientists and kayakers captured it as its mate honked and trumpeted. They removed the arrow, which missed bones and critical organs but came dangerously close to the 23-pound bird's spine, according to X-rays.
Swans are monogamous and tend to mate for life, DiMarzio said. At the time, the swan was released back at the lake, where it made a beeline for its mate.
"We were hoping that it was good to go and it would move on with the rest of the swans," said center spokeswoman Amy Haddow.
Sealife Center employees who examined the bird Saturday are certain it's the same one injured by the arrow, Haddow said. The wounds are healed, but problems lingered with the ailing wing.
Heidi Cline is the center's avian curator.
"The swan was unable to fully extend the wing that had been injured," she said. "She was probably sore and held it close to her body for a week or so after the injury, and lack of use eventually caused muscle atrophy and stiffness."
DiMarzio said the swan will likely stay at the center for the next couple of weeks as officials try to find a place to send it for long-term rehabilitation and to socialize with other swans. Depending on its recovery, it could spend the rest of its life in captivity, or join other swans again in natural migrations.
Local groups have offered a total of $4,000 in rewards to help find the person who shot the swan, according to the SeaLife Center. So far, no one's been found.
"From what I've heard, nobody has gotten any leads at all," DiMarzio said.
By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com