Trumpeter swans made a record comeback in Iowa in 2025. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa’s trumpeter swans attempted a record 158 nests last year.

Native to Iowa, and the state’s largest waterfowl, trumpeter swans were once common but were wiped out of the state by the 1880s. A nationwide survey in the early 1930s found only 69 trumpeter swans left in the continental U.S. Between 1994 and 2022, the Iowa DNR released 1,218 trumpeter swans in over 80 locations. 

After averaging about 50 nest attempts a year for a decade, nest attempts jumped to around 120 in 2020, followed by about 140 in 2022 and 158 in 2025. Of the active nests in 2025, 98 cygnets were known to have hatched successfully.  

There was one nest reported in Washington County and two in Iowa County. The county with the most reported nests in Iowa was Kossuth County with 18. 

The restoration effort was supported by the Iowa DNR’s Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund, a constitutionally-protected fund where hunting, fishing and trapping license fees go toward protecting, restoring and managing fish and wildlife.