A single male swan spent two decades returning alone to the same lake every spring, long after his mate had been killed and his eggs destroyed. That bird, later nicknamed Solo, became a key hope for restoring trumpeter swans to eastern Washington after an ambitious reintroduction programme very nearly ended in failure. Wildlife managers at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge had spent the 1960s carefully relocating dozens of cygnets to the area, only to watch the population barely survive for the next two decades. When Solo eventually found a new mate, the pair raised four cygnets in 2009, ending more than two decades without a successful brood at the refuge and renewing hope for the local flock. The story shows how fragile a reintroduction can be and how much can depend on a handful of surviving birds.
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