Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus)
January 7, 2010
I have often posted about the Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) that visit us almost daily. Yesterday I looked out to discover a small flock of Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus) aka Whistling Swan enjoy a bit of a break from their migration. Tundra Swans like sitting on floating sheets of ice so this is a common sight during the winter months.
Tundra Swans look quite similar to the larger Trumpeter Swan but have a small yellow mark at the base of the black bill close to the eye whereas the Trumpeter Swan doesn't have this mark. Mute Swans on the other hand have an orange bill. Tundra Swans migrate twice a year between the Canadian Artic or Alaska breeding grounds and a non-breeding ground in the US. Tundra Swans have a soft wow-wow-wow inflight honk while Trumpeter Swans have a high pitched French horn honk and Mute Swans have practically no honk. We also see Bewick's Swan, (C. c. bewickii) than has a soft ringing bark bow-wow call and Whooper Swan, (C. cygnus) that has a deep hooting call. When seen in flight all of these swans all look the same distinguishable only by their calls. All are migratory birds with the exception of Mute Swans. Tundra Swans migrate south beginning in October arriving at their wintering grounds in November to December. They begin their return journey to their breeding grounds in mid-March arriving by May.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
I've never seen that type of bird. They look really nice out on the ice, have the same silvery colours. I did see trumpeter swans on some nature show or another.
ReplyDeleteAll of them are gorgeous birds. The Mute swans that visit us daily can be quite territorial. They also don't like sea-dos as our one neighbour found out. The drake would not let them get into their dock!
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