CONSERVATIONIST REMEMBERED ON HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY

HARRY LUMSDEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF TRUMPETER SWAN'S REINTRODUCTION TO ONTARIO

It was far from a typical tribute, but significant and heartwarming nonetheless.

Sitting at Burlington's LaSalle Park surrounded by dozens of her fine-feathered friends on Mar. 12, Beverly Kingdon took time to remember friend and fellow conservationist Harry Lumsden on the eve of what would have been his 100th birthday.

It was the perfect setting for just such a remembrance.

Passing away two years ago, Lumsden — with tireless help from "Mother Swan" Kingdon and a group of dedicated volunteers — was the driving force behind the reintroduction of the trumpeter swan to Ontario.

North America's heaviest flying bird, weighing in at up to 30 pounds and with a wingspan of six-to-eight feet, was nearly hunted out of existence across the province by the 1880s.

Unwilling to accept that fate, Lumsden began with just a few eggs and over a four decade period brought the trumpeter swan back to a thriving population of over 2,500

Ontario. This earned the retired biologist membership into the Order of Canada in 2004.

Lumsden and his team's efforts, which included a contribution from Kingdon's late husband Ray, are now memorialized with a newly-erected sign at LaSalle Park — home to many trumpeter swans, who've become popular among bird-loving photographers over the years.

– with files from Meera Sulaiman