* 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.