A Florida man who killed a protected tundra swan in front of a group of birdwatchers last winter has received a lifetime hunting ban, along with six months probation and $1,500 in fines, according to WCTV News. The man was convicted for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and for not possessing the 2023-24 federal Duck Stamp which, ironically, featured a tundra swan.
The hefty sentence was handed down in Leon County court on Feb. 4 after the man entered a plea. The man’s identity and the particulars of his plea have not been made public. But the details of what happened on Lake Jackson that day were brought into full view by the local birdwatchers who saw and photographed the man shooting the swan on the water, wringing its neck, and hauling it into his kayak before attempting to cover it up.
It’s unclear if the highly publicized nature of the poaching incident influenced the sentence that was handed down Tuesday. State attorney Jack Campbell, who prosecuted the case, told reporters last February that he would try and determine whether the swan was killed accidentally or on purpose, and that this would “drive [their] prosecution.” According to the Florida Bar Association, a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is considered a misdemeanor unless it is done “knowingly,” in which case it constitutes a felony.
The investigation into the swan shooting began within minutes of when the bird was shot on Jan. 27. A group of birdwatchers had already gathered on the shore of Jackson Lake that morning after hearing that a pair of tundra swans had arrived the day before.
Although tundra swans can be hunted in several U.S. states, including nearby North Carolina, it is illegal to hunt them in Florida, where they’re less commonly seen. A spokesperson with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission told WCTV that there have only been two tundra swan sightings over the last 25 years in the Tallahassee area, where Lake Jackson is located.
The birdwatchers, members of the Apalachee Audubon Society, had located the pair of tundra swans and reportedly witnessed every step of the poaching. They watched and photographed the man shooting one of the birds as it swam slowly across the lake, and then paddling out in his kayak to finish it and haul it aboard. The birdwatchers immediately reported the shooting to FWC while yelling at the man in question, and the whole incident was recorded in painful detail in a blog post published on the Audubon society’s website.
By the time FWC officers arrived at the lake, the man had reportedly hidden the dead tundra swan in a bag inside his kayak. He initially lied when asked if he had any luck, and then admitted to killing a bird that he claimed to have misidentified, according to a report shared with the Tallahassee Democrat in January 2024.
“The individual stated, ‘Oh, no. I killed a snow goose,” and then showed the officers the bird, explaining that he’d hidden the swan in a bag after second-guessing whether it was a snow goose or not. “[He] stated that he had been duck hunting for 35 years and never misidentified a bird,” the report read.
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One of the birdwatchers who witnessed the incident told reporters after the sentencing that they were “satisfied” with the court’s decision to hand down a lifetime hunting ban. (Florida is a member of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, which means the lifetime ban applies to all 50 states.)
“All of the birding community and the duck hunting community I’ve talked to, we just think there’s no way you could not tell the difference between a Ttndra swan and a snow goose,” one of the other birdwatchers said in an interview with WCTV after charges were filed last January. “The birds swam by another group of hunters … and then continued on toward the hunter that eventually shot them, and that should have been a big clue. The first group of four hunters did not shoot.”
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