Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)

Introduction Description: Swans of the Midwest Status and Distribution Breeding Biology Midwest Restoration Programs Threats to Restoration Efforts What You Can Do Further Reading Excerpt from the Animal Guide Endangered Resources Reports

Introduction

Several Midwestern states have launched restoration programs to reintroduce Trumpeter Swans. Minnesota's Hennepin Parks pioneered the effort to reestablish Trumpeter Swans in 1966. By the 1980s, the state natural resources agencies of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan had initiated Trumpeter Swan recovery programs. These three states are now establishing flocks that will help create a migratory and breeding population in the Midwest.

This publication provides background information on the status and life history of the Trumpeter Swan and on restoration efforts in the upper Midwest.

Description: Swans of the Midwest

The Trumpeter Swan is the largest waterfowl species native to North America. Most Trumpeters weigh 21-30 pounds, although large males may exceed 35 pounds. The male is called a cob; the female is called a pen. With a wingspan over 7 feet, these snow-white birds are truly spectacular. Standing on the ground, an adult Trumpeter stands about 4 feet high.

Trumpeter Swans belong to the avian Order Anseriformes, Family Anatidae, along with ducks and geese. Trumpeters have broad, flat bills with fine tooth-like serrations along the edges that strain water when the birds eat aquatic vegetation. Their long necks allow them to uproot plants in 4 feet of water. Trumpeters are often confused with the far more common Tundra Swan (formerly Whistling Swan, Cygnus columbianus), the only other native swan that occurs regularly in North America. Tundra Swans can be seen in the upper Midwest during spring and fall migration.

Please click button for a comparison between
the Trumpeter Swan, the Mute Swan and the Tundra Swan.

Observers have described the Trumpeter's call as resonant, deep and loud, sonorous, and trumpet-like. Hence the bird's name: Trumpeter Swan. The Tundra Swan has a high-pitched, quavering call resembling that of a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) or Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens). From a distance the calls of a flock of Tundra Swans may be likened to the sound of a pack of baying hounds or distant 'whoops' and 'hollers.' Becoming familiar with these calls will aid identification.

The Tundra Swan has a 6 to 7-foot wingspan, weighs 13-20 pounds, and stands about 3 feet tall. Both species are white with a black bill. A swan in its first year is called a juvenile or cygnet. Juvenile Trumpeter and Tundra Swans are grayish. Tundra cygnets are more silver gray than the darker Trumpeter cygnets, which are sooty gray in the head and neck areas. Swan cygnets do not become all white until about a year old. In their first summer, Trumpeter and Tundra Swan cygnets have pink bills with black tips. The bills turn all black during the first winter.

One notable difference between these two species is the head and bill profile. The Tundra's bill is slightly dish-shaped or concave and is smaller in proportion to its smoothly rounded head. The bill of the Trumpeter appears heavy and somewhat wedge-shaped in proportion to its large angular head, similar to the head profile of a Canvasback duck.

Other field characteristics of the Tundra Swan include a distinct yellow spot in front of the eye on about 80 percent of the birds. In contrast, the Trumpeter Swan has a red border or stripe, like lipstick, on the edge of its lower mandible. This red border, however, may sometimes appear on a Tundra Swan's bill, and some Trumpeters may have a yellow mark in front of the eye. The best way to distinguish the two species is by their calls.

A third swan species is not native to the Midwest. The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) is found commonly along the East Coast and is present in parts of the Midwest. The Mute Swan is a Eurasian bird first introduced by European immigrants. This is the swan that typically is featured in art work and folklore. Mute Swans are an undesirable exotic species that harass native waterfowl and uproot large quantities of aquatic vegetation. Almost all North American breeding populations of Mute Swans were established by the escape or accidental release of captive birds.

Close to a Trumpeter in size, the Mute Swan is easily distinguished from other swans by its orange bill and prominent black fleshy knob extending from the base of the bill to the forehead. Mute Swan cygnets have two distinct color phases: the royal phase (brownish) or the Polish phase (white). Unlike Trumpeter and Tundra Swan cygnets, the Mute cygnet has either a dark bill (royal phase) or pinkish bill (Polish phase) during its first summer; the bill turns orange during the first year.

Mute Swans typically hold their necks in an S-curve with the bill pointed downward. Though described as silent, Mutes actually utter a variety of call notes, including grunts and snorts.

Trumpeter Swans, although protected from hunting throughout their range, are also sometimes mistaken for Snow Geese, which can be hunted. The Snow Goose, however, is significantly smaller, with a wingspan of only about 3 feet and with black wing tips (all ages). Tundra Swans are hunted in North Carolina, Virginia, North Dakota, Montana, Nevada, and Utah.

Status and Distribution

Trumpeter Swans were once fairly common throughout most of the northern United States and Canada. Market hunting and the millinery trade rapidly depleted nesting populations during the 19th century. Swan skins were sold in the fur trade to Europe where they were used to make ladies' powder puffs and feathers were used to adorn fashionable hats.

Trumpeters nested in Minnesota and Wisconsin until the 1880s. In Minnesota, the species occurred in the prairie and parkland areas of western, central, and northern portions of the state. In Wisconsin, Trumpeters may have nested in all but the northeastern forested regions, most likely in large marshes or shallow lakes. Elsewhere in the Midwest, the Trumpeters' historic breeding range reached from western Nebraska to central Michigan. It extended as far north and east as James Bay in Canada.

Please click button for a map of the
historic breeding ranges of the trumpeter swan.

By 1900, it was widely believed that the species had become extinct. Fortunately, a small nonmigratory population survived in the remote mountain valleys of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. Two nests were found in Yellowstone National Park in 1919; and in 1932, 69 Trumpeters were documented in the region. We now know that a population of several thousand Trumpeters also survived in remote parts of Alaska and Canada.

In 1935, the U.S. government established Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana's Centennial Valley to protect the remnant Trumpeter population. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (exit DNR), habitat conditions quickly improved when refuge personnel restricted livestock grazing and hay cutting in the marshes, protected the muskrat population (Trumpeters use muskrat houses for nesting), provided winter food, controlled predators (now no longer necessary), and more recently prohibited the use of lead shot and lead fishing sinkers because of the danger of lead poisoning.

With protection at Red Rock Lakes and in the adjacent Yellowstone National Park, the Tristate, (southwestern Montana, eastcentral Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming) Subpopulation, as it is now known, increased to 640 birds by the late 1950s.

In an attempt to expand their range and chances of survival, Trumpeters have been transplanted to locations with suitable habitat. In 1938, four cygnets were taken to the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming. Over the next 30 years, Trumpeters were moved to several western refuges and as far east as Hennepin County, Minnesota, where a pair of Red Rock Lakes' cygnets were obtained by Hennepin Parks in 1966. Hennepin Parks had obtained a total of 40 more Red Rock Lakes' Trumpeters by 1970.

Between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s, the Tristate Subpopulation declined. Productivity plunged in the late 1970s, and by 1986 only 392 birds remained. Concern over the decline led to an extensive study that demonstrated a close relationship between swan survival and the availability of winter foods (primarily native foods and supplemental grain) at Red Rock Lakes. High winter losses occurred when little grain was provided; this was the case in the early 1980s when refuge personnel put out the least amount of grain in the refuge's history.

In 1987 and 1988, marked increases in supplemental winter grain coupled with favorable weather led to a dramatic increase in the number of cygnets produced at areas in and adjacent to Red Rock Lakes. In 1988, there were 601 birds in the Tristate Subpopulation. Severe winter weather, however, and reduced flows on the Henry's Fork River in Idaho during the winter of 1988-89 caused the death of about 100 swans, including migrants from Canadian flocks. In 1989, the Tristate Subpopulation stood at 565 birds.

For management purposes, Trumpeters are divided into populations based on their range. About 1,000 Trumpeters occur in western Canada and include birds that migrate to the Tristate area. Many of these-swans nest in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Together with summer resident Tristate swans, these birds comprise the Rocky Mountain Population. There are nearly 12,000 Trumpeter Swans in Alaska. These birds, combined with western Canadian flocks and restoration flocks from western refuges, comprise the Pacific Coast Population. A third population, the Interior Population, is made up of flocks east of the Rocky Mountains and numbers about 500 birds. Midwestern restoration flocks belong to the Interior Population.

Once considered for federal 'endangered' status, the Trumpeter is not officially listed as threatened or endangered. In the Midwest, however, it is actually more rare than the threatened Bald Eagle. It has no official state status in Midwestern states, except in Wisconsin, where it is listed as an endangered species, and in Michigan, where it is a threatened species.

A map outlining Pre-1977 and 1997 to Present Distribution is available.

Breeding Biology

Trumpeter Swans may form pair bonds as early as their second winter and some may nest for the first time at age three years. Most Trumpeters, however, don't nest until they are four to six years old. Trumpeter Swans mate for life and may live for 20 to 30 years. If one member of a pair dies, the survivor finds another mate. A cob usually replaces its lost mate with a younger pen and returns to the former nesting territory. When a pen remates, it also returns to its former nesting territory. As in other waterfowl species, remating and returning to a former nesting territory is more likely if the returning member of a pair was previously successful at raising young on that territory.

Swans usually form pair bonds where they spend the winter. Pairs may select a nesting area near where the pen hatched. The pen chooses the specific nesting area and the cob defends it, sometimes joined by the pen. If a pair spends at least two summers at the same nesting location, it will form an almost unbreakable attachment to the site.

A Trumpeter pair typically arrives on the breeding grounds soon after ice melt in early spring. For the first few weeks after arrival the pair engages in courtship behavior, bobbing their heads and quivering their wings while facing each other.

A newly formed pair usually does not build a nest during their first spring and summer together.

Trumpeter Swan nesting territories range from 6 to 150 acres in size. Large, shallow wetlands 1-3 feet deep with a diverse mix of emergent vegetation and open water offer ideal habitat. Such locations support a rich variety of submergent (underwater) plants used for food, such as sago pondweed and water milfoil. These are preferred by Trumpeters, along with such emergent plants as arrowhead, burreed, bulrush, sedges, and wild rice.

Nest-building begins in mid-April and may take up to two weeks. The nests may reach a diameter of 6 feet or more. Trumpeters build their nests on top of muskrat or beaver lodges, or they pile sedges and cattail tubers into a mound. The cob uproots the vegetation and transfers it to the pen, who piles it high, then uses her body to form a depression for the eggs. The same nest structure may be used from one year to the next. Usually, water surrounds the nest making it difficult for a mammalian predator to surprise the pair.

Beginning in late April to early May, the pen lays one off-white egg about 4 1/2 inches long and 3 inches wide every other day until a clutch of five to nine eggs is complete. If it is the pen's first clutch, fewer eggs may be laid and they may be infertile. Once all eggs have been laid, the pen incubates the eggs and the cob protects the nest against all intruders.

During the incubation period, which lasts about 33-34 days, the pen occasionally leaves the nest to feed, bathe, and preen her feathers. Preening is vital to maintaining the bird's plumage. When preening, a Trumpeter presses its bill against the base of the tail to extract a greasy fluid from an oil gland. This is used to recondition, clean, and waterproof the feathers.

When the pen leaves the nest, she covers the eggs with nest material. The cob, meanwhile, stands guard on or near the, nest to deter predators. Intruding swans or predators are vigorously chased away. The adults perform a "triumph display" after intruders are repelled. Facing one another, they quiver their wings and trumpet loudly.

When the cygnets hatch in June, they weigh about 7 ounces. After a day or two, they take to the water to feed on insects and other aquatic invertebrates. For the first several weeks, a cygnet may concentrate on this protein-rich food source to support its rapid growth. At early stages cygnets may gain 20% of their body weight every day.

By the time the cygnets are four to six weeks old they are feeding on aquatic vegetation, using their bills to uproot plants as their parents do. About this time the adult pair begins their annual molt. Flight feathers on the wings and tail are shed and replaced.

The pen usually molts first, two to three weeks after egg-hatching. The cob's molt follows after the pen has regrown her flight feathers. The molting period lasts about 30 days. Because even an adult is vulnerable to predators during this flightless period, the swans may seek shelter in tall emergent vegetation. Since the molt is staggered, at least one adult is always capable of flight and defending the cygnets.

The cygnets grow rapidly. Scapular, tail, and flank feathers begin to replace gray down when the cygnets are four weeks old. At six weeks, the belly, breast, and cheek are fully feathered. By seven weeks, cygnets have most neck and crown feathers. Cygnets have little down left at eight weeks and are fully feathered by nine to ten weeks though they are unable to fly until about 15 weeks of age. At 15 weeks the cygnets weigh about 20 pounds. Their growth rate exceeds a pound a week!

The first flights in late September are typically short. Daily practice prepares the cygnets to migrate with their parents just before freeze-up to wintering areas where ice-free streams and ponds allow subadults and unmated adults to mingle. Family groups and mated pairs keep to themselves. Parents and their cygnets return year after year to the same winter feeding sites. The quality and quantity of winter foods influences productivity during the next breeding season.

Cygnets will remain with their parents during winter and migrate north with them. Then the parents drive them away. By this time the cygnets are about one year old. They remain together in sibling groups until about two years of age when they, too, begin to seek mates and a new life in a remote marsh.

Midwest Restoration Programs

Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan are attempting to reestablish Trumpeter Swans by rearing cygnets in captivity. After two years, unrelated birds are paired and released at selected wetlands. Birds are retained in captivity for two years because it is believed that the first two years of a cygnet's life are the most difficult to survive. Released birds typically "imprint" on the release area; that is, they will most likely return to that area to nest at age four years.

The sites where cygnets and yearlings are held captive are called captive-rearing or overwintering sites. Wisconsin, for example, has three such sites where Trumpeter cygnets are maintained. The swans are wing-clipped each summer to prevent them from flying away. Swans molt all flight feathers in the summer. Birds must be clipped again just prior to regaining flight.

Another important approach in restoration efforts is the maintenance of flightless breeding pairs that contribute young to the recovery programs. Several zoos, a few game farms, and the Delta Waterfowl Research Station in Manitoba, Canada, have provided cygnets for Midwestern restoration programs. These cygnets are also held in captivity for two years, then paired and released as described above.

To determine the most effective techniques for achieving a wild, free- flying Trumpeter Swan population, Wisconsin has begun research to compare the release of two-year-old birds with the release of cygnets imprinted on a swan decoy. The cygnets learn to avoid potential predators through responses to taped vocalizations associated with a swan decoy, and live in a remote marsh setting for about four months until they can fly. They are then allowed to fly free as they would in the wild. Results of this research may enable swan managers to employ a single technique or combine different techniques in their restoration programs.

To monitor the survival and movements of released swans, Minnesota attaches orange wing tags with black lettering on each bird released. Wisconsin, Hennepin Parks, and Michigan use yellow collars with black characters. This allows individual birds to be identified from a considerable distance. Each bird is also banded with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (exit DNR) leg band prior to release. Observations and the recovery of birds provides wildlife managers with valuable data on movements and survival.

Results from Midwestern restoration programs have been encouraging.

Minnesota:
Hennepin Parks started with a pair obtained from Red Rock Lakes Refuge (exit DNR) in 1966 and until 20 birds succumbed to lead poisoning during the winter of 1988-89, they had built a flock of nearly 100 birds, including 13 breeding pairs. The eventual goal of Hennepin Parks' program is to establish a free- flying flock of 100 Trumpeters, including 10-15 nesting pairs, in central Minnesota.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (exit DNR) (MDNR) began their Trumpeter Swan restoration efforts in 1982. From 1986 through 1988 they annually collected and incubated 50 Alaskan Trumpeter Swan eggs. By the summer of 1989, the MDNR had raised and released a total of 92 two-year old swans: 21 in 1987, 44 in 1988,-and 27 in 1989. During the winter of 1988-89, the 44 released subadults wintered in nine widely scattered locations in the Midwest. Two free-flying pairs released in 1987, nested in 1988 and one pair produced one cygnet. In 1989, five free-flying pairs nested that originated from 1987 and 1988 releases. Four cygnets fledged.

The goal of the Minnesota DNR's recovery program is to establish a minimum nesting population of 15 pairs in western Minnesota. The known survival of Minnesota's swans that were released in 1987 and 1988 is 54%. The status of another 15 swans is unknown.

Wisconsin:
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) began their Trumpeter Swan recovery program in 1987 in cooperation with the Milwaukee County Zoo (exit DNR), the Wisconsin Metro Audubon Society, and the MDNR. Also, under a cooperative agreement, Wisconsin, the MDNR, and Hennepin Parks will work toward establishment of a western Wisconsin/eastern Minnesota flock. In 1987 and 1988, Wisconsin attempted to hatch 35 Trumpeter Swan eggs using Mute Swans as foster parents. This is a technique called cross-fostering. Twenty-six of the eggs hatched, but snapping turtle predation, possibly mammalian predation, and aggression by an adult male Mute Swan at one nest, resulted in only two cygnets surviving to flight. Cross-fostering was abandoned.

In 1989, the WDNR had three potential captive breeding pairs. Two pairs of Hennepin Parks' origin occupied territories in the wild. One of these Hennepin pairs produced two young; the first time in over a hundred years that a pair of Trumpeters successfully nested in the wild in Wisconsin. Six swans were released in 1989 in northwestern Wisconsin; the first of several planned releases, including 19 in 1990, through 1998.

Also in 1989, Wisconsin began the first year of an eight-year program to collect Trumpeter Swan eggs in Alaska. A three-year study involving the MDNR to assess the impact of egg collection on the Alaskan Trumpeter Swan population has shown no negative effects. At least two fertile eggs are left in each Alaskan nest allowing each pair of swans to raise a brood. Alaskan eggs are sought because the state has a large Trumpeter Swan population that can provide the genetic diversity needed for the establishment of a healthy Midwestern swan population. Also, Alaskan swans have proven migratory instincts that will enable Midwestern stock to develop migratory traditions.

The DNR collected 40 Alaskan Trumpeter Swan eggs in 1989 and hopes to collect at least 30 eggs annually through the year 1996. In 1989, a total of 38 of 39 Alaskan eggs that were artificially incubated (one egg from the original 40 proved to be dead and was not incubated) hatched at the Milwaukee County Zoo (exit DNR), a record 97 % hatch for a Trumpeter Swan restoration program! The goal of the WDNR recovery program: to achieve a population of at least 20 breeding and migratory pairs by the year 2000.

Michigan:
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (exit DNR) began their Trumpeter Swan restoration program in 1986 in cooperation with Michigan State University's Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, several zoological parks, private aviculturalists, and habitat foundations. Reintroduction methods include: cross fostering with feral Mute swans; release of two-year old swans from Alaskan and avicultural stock; and selected placement of pinioned pairs from which the young would be allowed to fly free.

From 1986 through 1989, a total of 44 Trumpeter Swan eggs were placed under feral Mute swans. Thirty-one of these eggs hatched, but only six cygnets survived to flight, with nesting failures attributed largely to predation and parental abandonment. Michigan has also discontinued cross- fostering.

In 1989, nine subadults were released in southwest Michigan. The Michigan DNR plans to release 20 swans of avicultural stock per year through 1993 in southwest Michigan to establish a self-sustaining, migratory, and breeding population. Another part of the release program, to take place in eastern Michigan, will utilize Alaskan birds in an attempt to establish a second population. In 1989, the WDNR collected 20 Alaskan eggs for Michigan. Eighteen Alaskan cygnets from the eggs that hatched were released in 1991. Alaskan cygnets were released in eastern Michigan through 1993.

The goal of Michigan's recovery program is to establish two populations of 100 swans each by the year 2000.

Missouri:
The Missouri Department of Conservation (exit DNR) also intends to restore Trumpeters and their plan centers on translocating wild, free-flying Alaskan subadults to reestablish a wintering population of Trumpeters in the state. Missouri hopes to work with the states of Nebraska and South Dakota in building up a flock of 500 birds, with Trumpeters at LaCreek NWR in South Dakota, at Crescent Lake NWR and Mahon NWR in Nebraska, and at Mingo NWR in Missouri.

Threats to Restoration Efforts

Lead poisoning through the ingestion of lead shot or lead fishing sinkers present in wetlands and lakes is a serious threat to restoration of Trumpeter Swans. Trumpeters pick up the lead shot or sinkers when they feed or eat grit from a marsh bottom. The grit aids digestion. The availability of lead shot or sinkers becomes greater during widespread drought and may not be a problem in normal and wet years. Hennepin Parks' restoration efforts have been affected significantly and lead poisoning looms as the single greatest threat to the reestablishment of Trumpeter Swans in the Midwest. A ban on the use of lead shot to hunt waterfowl went into effect nationwide in 1991. In the Midwest, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan had already banned the use of lead shot.

Illegal shooting is a troubling threat. Trumpeters are protected from hunting in the United States and Tundra Swans are protected from hunting in the Mississippi Flyway. Aggressive educational campaigns are necessary to emphasize the differences between swans and Snow Geese. In general, it is wanton shooting, not hunting, that presents a potential threat, but hunters need to know the differences between Trumpeter Swans and other waterfowl to prevent accidents from occurring. Power lines have been responsible for some Trumpeter Swan losses and could be a major mortality factor where they cross wetlands during migration, because the birds are large and fly low. Cooperation with power companies to install markers on wires in appropriate areas will help minimize this potential threat.

Decreasing wetland habitat quantity and quality could affect the long- term growth and stability of Trumpeter Swan populations. Wetland loss through drainage and filling, areas becoming unsuitable due to concentrations of lead shot or lead sinkers, or invasions by Mute Swans, carp, or purple loosestrife could limit the amount and quality of habitat available to nesting Trumpeters. But the federal policy of "No net loss of wetlands" implemented in 1989 and the implementation of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, should help wetland conservation efforts. Also, public involvement and understanding of wetland values is crucial to the long-term success of Trumpeter Swan restoration programs.

Predation of cygnets by snapping turtles, Great Homed Owls, mink, raccoons, coyotes, and red fox is always possible in the wild, as is mammalian and avian predation on subadults or adults, but it is not expected to be a significant factor limiting swan populations.

Funding of Trumpeter Swan restoration efforts is a different kind of problem, and a significant one. Wisconsin's Trumpeter Swan Recovery Program is partially funded by the Endangered Resources Fund, which is the state's income tax check-off fund. The remainder is funded through direct private donations.

What You Can Do

One of the most important ways you can help is by learning the differences between Trumpeters and other waterfowl and by reporting your observations to your local conservation official or DNR office. This will help biologists track Trumpeter movements and prevent illegal harassment and killing of swans. Below are listed state agency contacts for Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (exit DNR)
Division of Wildlife
Box 7, 500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55146.
(612) 296-3344

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Bureau of Endangered Resources
Box 7921
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 266-7012

Michigan Department of Natural Resources (exit DNR)
Wildlife Division
Box 30028
Lansing, MI 48909
(517) 373-1263

You may also want to join The Trumpeter Swan Society (exit DNR), which is dedicated to restoring the Trumpeter Swan to as much of its former range as possible. The Society's address is:
3800 County Road 24
Maple Plain, MN 55359.
Telephone: (612) 476-4663.

Finally, your support of voluntary conservation measures, such as the tax check-off on your state income tax form, or a direct contribution to the Trumpeter Swan Recovery Program, (address: DNR, Bureau of Endangered Resources, Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707) will help reestablish this majestic bird in the Midwest.

Further Reading

Bellrose, Frank C. 1978.
Ducks, geese, and swans of North America.
Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA-540 pp.

Gillette, L N. and T. M. Dyhr. 1977.
A guideline for propagation of captive trumpeter swans.
The Trumpeter Swan Society, Maple Plain, MN. 24 pp.

Hansen, Skylar.
The trumpeter swan, a white perfection.
Northland Press, Flagstaff, AZ. 76 pp

Excerpt from THE ENDANGERED AND THREATENED VERTEBRATE SPECIES OF WISCONSIN

Status: State Endangered (1989).

Occurrence: Occurred in Wisconsin as breeding birds until the late 19th century. Wisconsin established a trumpeter swan recovery program in 1987. A map outlining Pre-1977 and 1997 to Present Distribution is available.

Aid to ID: Trumpeter swans are the largest waterfowl species native to North America. Adult plumage is all white. Bill is black with a narrow, salmon-red stripe along the base of lower bill. Wing span is nearly 8 feet. Their voice is loud and trumpet-like.

Habitat: An interspersion of open water and emergent marsh habitat in isolated areas away from human disturbance are common nesting areas. Large areas of shallow water (1-2.5 ft. deep) are necessary to produce the emergent vegetation required for nesting and food cover. Emergents include sedges (Carex spp.), bulrushes (Scirpus spp.), cattails (Typha spp.), Equisetum spp., Potentilla spp., and Juncus spp.

Food Habits: Diet consists of tubers and stems from aquatic plants, including arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.), and bulrush (Scirpus spp.).

Natural History:

Breeding: Trumpeters can breed as early as 2 years of age. Clutch size: typically 5 cream white eggs; laid from April to June. Incubation: about 32 days. Young fledge at about 14 weeks of age.
Nest: Former muskrat lodges or mounds of emergent vegetation built up by trumpeters.

Management Considerations: Original declines were due to hunting and shooting for the millinery trade; shooting still remains a problem. Trumpeter swans are highly sensitive to lead poisoning, with only 1-2 lead pellets needed to sicken or kill them. They are exposed to lead poisoning from spent shot and fishing sinkers. These birds require protection from shooting; continued hunter education programs are essential. Potential breeding wetlands need to be managed to provide stable water levels. In general, protection of large, shallow wetland complexes is important to the conservation of this species.

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