Birds
Trumpeter Swan
Cygnus buccinator · also called bugler swan
A century ago, the trumpeter swan had all but disappeared from the United States outside Alaska — shot for its meat, its skin, and its quill feathers until fewer than seventy birds were known south of Canada. Today its brassy, bugling call is back on wetlands from the Rockies to the Great Lakes. It is one of North America’s clearest conservation recoveries.
Overview
Cygnus buccinator is the heaviest waterfowl native to North America. Adult males average 11 to 12.5 kg, with the biggest birds over 15 kg, and the wingspan reaches 2.5 metres. The plumage is all white, the bill solid black. It breeds on northern wetlands and feeds almost entirely on aquatic plants, upending in the shallows to reach roots and tubers.
The trumpet in the chest
The swan’s name comes from its call. Its windpipe loops into a bony chamber in the breastbone before reaching the lungs, and that extra coiled length works like the tubing of a brass instrument, producing a deep, resonant bugle that carries far across a marsh and keeps pairs and families in contact.
Down to 69, back past 60,000
Hunted across the continent for meat, swanskin, and quill feathers, the trumpeter was near extinction by 1900, and by the 1930s only about 69 birds were known in the lower 48 states. A previously overlooked Alaskan population was later confirmed, and from that base, plus captive breeding and reintroduction, the North American total has climbed past 60,000. Pairs usually mate for life and defend large territories, often nesting on a beaver lodge.
Status
The trumpeter swan is now Least Concern and increasing. It is not out of danger everywhere — lead poisoning from swallowed shot and sinkers, power-line collisions, and wetland loss still hit local populations — but the species as a whole has recovered.
Trumpeter Swan: common questions
How big is a trumpeter swan?
It is the largest native waterfowl in North America and among the largest flying birds anywhere. Adults are about 1.4 to 1.65 metres long from bill to tail, stand over a metre tall, and span 2 to 2.5 metres across the wings. Males, called cobs, average around 11 to 12.5 kg, and exceptional birds have weighed more than 15 kg, heavy enough that taking off requires a running start of many metres across open water. Females, called pens, are a little smaller. The similar tundra swan is noticeably lighter and shorter, and the introduced mute swan is lighter with an orange bill.
Why is it called a trumpeter swan?
For its call, which really does sound like a brass horn. The bird's windpipe is unusually long and coils into a hollow chamber inside the breastbone before it reaches the lungs. That built-in extra tubing works like the tubing of a trumpet or trombone, lowering the pitch and adding resonance, so the swan produces a loud, deep, bugling honk rather than the softer sounds of a goose or duck. The call carries a long way over water and marsh and is used to keep pairs and families in contact, greet a returning mate, and warn off intruders.
How did trumpeter swans nearly go extinct?
They were hunted relentlessly through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Their meat was sold, their soft skins were traded as swanskin for powder puffs and trimmings, and their large, strong wing feathers were valued as writing quills. Because swans are big, conspicuous, slow to mature, and faithful to traditional nesting lakes, they were easy to shoot out of an area completely. By around 1900 the species had vanished from most of its former range, and by the 1930s only about 69 birds were known south of Canada, in the Red Rock Lakes area of Montana and nearby Yellowstone.
Are trumpeter swans still endangered?
No longer in the global sense. The species is now listed as Least Concern and the population is increasing, thanks to hunting protection, the discovery of a substantial Alaskan population, and decades of reintroduction and management in the northern United States and Canada. Numbers have gone from a few dozen known birds in the lower 48 states to more than 60,000 across the continent. Regional recovery is uneven, though, and local populations still face lead poisoning from ingested shot and sinkers, collisions with power lines, and loss of shallow wetland habitat.