* Threatened or Endangered

Trumpeter Swan *

 : Cygnus buccinator

 : Bird

 : Northwestern and central North America

 : Plant material and grains

 : Weight 22 to 38 lbs.

 : Least Concern

 

• Once numerous across the central and western United States, trumpeter swans were heavily hunted in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

• Efforts to reintroduce birds to areas where they were previously located have had limited success due to the lack of migration patterns present in the reintroduced birds.

• This is the largest bird in North America and the overall largest waterfowl in the world.

• It can be distinguished from its smaller relative, the Whistling Swan, by its considerably larger size and the lack of yellow lores at the base of the beak.

• Like all swans, adults go through a summer molt when they temporarily lose their flight feathers.

     o In adult females, this happens shortly after their young hatch.

     o In adult males, it happens when the females have regained their         ability to fly.

 
 
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