Trumpeter Swan

Cygnus buccinator

Order ANSERIFORMES - Family ANATIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The largest of North American waterfowl, the Trumpeter Swan is resident throughout much of its range, but migratory in other parts. Its was reduced to near extinction by the early 20th century, but it is relatively common today.

Cool Facts

• The Trumpeter Swan was hunted for its feathers throughout the 1600s - 1800s, causing a tremendous decline in its numbers. Its largest flight feathers made what were considered to be the best quality quill pens.
• Swans can live a long time. Wild Trumpeter Swans have been known to live longer than 24 years, and one captive individual lived to be 32.

• Trumpeter Swans form pair bonds when they are three or four years old. The pair stays together throughout the year, moving together in migratory populations. Trumpeters are assumed to mate for life, but some individuals do switch mates over their lifetimes. Some males that lost their mates did not mate again.

Description

• Size: 138-158 cm (54-62 in)
• Wingspan: 203 cm (80 in)
• Weight: 7700-12700 g (271.81-448.31 ounces)

• Large, all-white waterfowl.
• Long, straight neck.
• Black bill and face.

• Wings pure white.
• Legs black.
• No yellow on bill.
• Pink along edge of bill.
• Head and neck may be stained rusty.
• Eyes black.
• Eye contained within black face.
• V-shaped indentation of white forehead into bill.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike; male slightly larger.

Immature

Dirty white all over. Legs gray-pink, turning yellowish gray to dull black. Bill gray-black at base, pink towards tip; turns completely black.

Similar Species

• Tundra Swan usually shows variable yellow spot in front of eyes; spot may be absent. Bill profile curved slightly upward, not flat. Eye more distinct from black facial skin. Border of bill and forehead rounded or nearly flat from above.
• Mute Swan with curved neck, orange bill.
• Snow Goose smaller and with shorter neck, black wingtips, pink bill.
• Domestic goose smaller, with shorter neck, and pink or orange bill and legs.
• White Pelican has short neck, large yellow or orange bill, orange legs, and black flight feathers.

Sound

Call a hollow, nasal honking. Wings make raspy noise in flight.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds locally from central Alaska to western South Dakota and northern Nebraska. Introduced farther eastward in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario. Resident in much of breeding range.

Winter Range

Winters locally from southern Alaska and western British Columbia southward to Oregon, Nevada, and Wyoming.

Habitat

Breeds in freshwater marshes and along ponds and lakes. Winters in lakes, streams, springs, rivers, and reservoirs.

Food

Submerged and emergent aquatic vegetation, grasses, grains.

Behavior

Foraging

Tips up to reach submerged aquatic vegetation.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest a large open bowl, made of aquatic vegetation, grasses, and sedges, lined with down and some body feathers. Usually placed on slightly elevated sites surrounded by water, such as a muskrat mound, beaver lodge, or small island.

Egg Description

Creamy white.

Clutch Size

Usually 4-6 eggs. Range: 1-9.

Condition at Hatching

Covered with down and eyes open. Leaves nest within 24 hours of hatching and has the ability to swim and feed.

Conservation Status

Original declines were the result of commercial trade in swan skins and excessive hunting. Populations generally increasing. Several states and provinces have programs to reintroduce Trumpeter Swans.

Other Names

Cygne trompette (French)
Cisne (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Mitchell, Carl D. 1994. Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator). In The Birds of North America, No. 105 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.