About Cygnus buccinator Richardson, 1831
Trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator Richardson, 1831) is the largest living waterfowl species, and also the heaviest and longest native bird of North America. Adults typically measure 138–165 cm (4 ft 6 in – 5 ft 5 in) in total length, while large males can grow longer than 180 cm (5 ft 11 in). Adult weights usually range from 7–13.6 kg (15–30 lb). Reported average weights differ by age and seasonal food access: males average 10.9 to 12.7 kg (24 to 28 lb), and females average 9.4 to 10.3 kg (21 to 23 lb). This species is one of the heaviest living flying animals, and is the world's heaviest flying bird by average mass. Alongside the mute swan (Cygnus olor), wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), great bustard (Otis tarda), Kori bustard (Ardeotis kori), Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus), and Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), the trumpeter swan is among the few species where both sexes can exceed 10 kg (22 lb) in weight. One survey of wintering trumpeter swans found their average mass was second only to the Andean condor. The trumpeter swan's wingspan ranges from 185 to 304.8 cm (6 ft 0.8 in to 10 ft 0 in), and the wing chord measures 60–68 cm (24–27 in). The largest recorded male trumpeter swan reached 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) in length, 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in) in wingspan, and 17.2 kg (38 lb) in weight. It is the second heaviest wild waterfowl ever recorded; one mute swan was found to weigh 23 kg (51 lb), but it is unclear whether that swan was still able to fly due to its size. Adult trumpeter swans have entirely white plumage. Like mute swan cygnets, young trumpeter swan cygnets have light grey plumage and pinkish legs, and gain their full white plumage after around one year. Similar to the whooper swan, this species holds an upright posture and generally swims with a straight neck. The trumpeter swan has a large, wedge-shaped black bill that may have faint salmon-pink coloring along the edge of the mouth. The bill measures 10.5–12 cm (4.1–4.7 in), up to twice the length of a Canada goose (Branta canadensis) bill, and is the largest bill of any waterfowl species in the world. The legs are gray-pink, though some individuals may have legs that appear yellowish gray or even black. The tarsus measures 10.5–12 cm (4.1–4.7 in). The introduced North American mute swan is only slightly smaller than the trumpeter swan, but is easily distinguished by its orange bill and different physical structure, particularly its typically curved neck (as opposed to the trumpeter's straight neck). Mute swans are often found year-round in developed areas near human settlement in North America, while trumpeter swans usually only occupy pristine wetlands with very little human disturbance, especially during breeding. The tundra swan (C. columbianus) resembles the trumpeter swan more closely, but is noticeably smaller. A male trumpeter swan's neck may be twice as long as a tundra swan's neck. Tundra swans are further distinguished by their yellow lores. However, some trumpeter swans also have yellow lores; many of these individuals are leucistic and have paler legs than typical trumpeter swans. Distinguishing tundra and trumpeter swans from a distance (when size is harder to judge) can be difficult without direct comparison, but it is possible thanks to the trumpeter's clearly longer neck (its great length is noticeable even when the swan is not standing or swimming upright) and larger, wedge-shaped bill compared to the tundra swan. Trumpeter swans have calls similar to whooper swans and Bewick's swans. Their calls are loud and somewhat musical, and their cry resembles the sound of a trumpet, which gives the species its common name. Regular cooperative continental surveys of trumpeter swans have been conducted since 1968, with a repeat survey in 1975 followed by surveys every 5 years; the most recent survey took place in 2015. These surveys measure trumpeter swan abundance and breeding productivity across the full breeding ranges of the three recognized North American populations: the Pacific Coast (PCP), Rocky Mountain (RMP), and Interior (IP) populations. Between 1968 and 2010, the total population grew from 3,722 to approximately 46,225 birds, largely due to reintroductions into the species' historic range. Trumpeter swans breed in large shallow ponds, undisturbed lakes, pristine wetlands, wide slow rivers, and marshes across northwestern and central North America, with the highest number of breeding pairs found in Alaska. They prefer nesting sites with enough open water for takeoff, accessible reliable food sources, shallow unpolluted water, and little to no human disturbance. Natural populations migrate in V-shaped flocks between breeding grounds and wintering areas on the Pacific coast and parts of the United States, while most released populations are non-migratory. In winter, migratory trumpeter swans move to the southern tier of Canada, the eastern part of the northwestern United States (especially the Red Rock Lakes area of Montana), and the northern Puget Sound region of Washington state; migratory populations have even been observed as far south as Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Historically, the species' range extended as far south as Texas and southern California. Since 1992, trumpeter swans have been recorded at Magness Lake outside Heber Springs, Arkansas every November through February. A specimen held by the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Massachusetts was collected in 1909 at Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, but the species is currently considered extirpated from Mexico. In early 2017, a juvenile trumpeter swan settled on the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina, marking the first recorded sighting of the species in that region of the state. Non-migratory trumpeter swans have also been artificially introduced to some areas of Oregon. Because of their natural beauty, they are considered a good waterfowl species to attract bird watchers and other wildlife enthusiasts. Introductions of this non-indigenous species in Western U.S. states, for example through the Oregon Trumpeter Swan Program (OTSP), have received criticism, but the program argues that the attractiveness of natural sites takes priority over the original historic range of any species. Occasional sightings of trumpeter swans have been recorded in the United Kingdom; some of these are believed to be vagrants, but most are thought to be escapes from captive collections. A single breeding record of the species in the United Kingdom comes from 1997, when two swans from a group that escaped from a wildfowl collection at Apethorpe Palace, Northamptonshire raised one cygnet on the River Nene. In 1918, Joseph Grinnell wrote that trumpeter swans once bred across North America from northwestern Indiana west to Oregon in the U.S., and in Canada from James Bay to the Yukon, and migrated as far south as Texas and southern California. In 1960, Winston E. Banko also placed the southern edge of the breeding range as far south as Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and northwestern Indiana, but turned this boundary northward at Michigan, running the hypothetical eastern breeding boundary north through Ontario to western Quebec and the eastern shore of James Bay. In 1984, Harry G. Lumsden proposed that trumpeter swans may have been extirpated from eastern Canada by Indigenous peoples with firearms before European explorers arrived, and noted archaeological remains of trumpeter swans as far east as Port au Choix, Newfoundland dating to 2,000 BCE. He cited historical observer records of what must have been breeding trumpeters, including Father Hennepin's August 1679 report of swans on the Detroit River from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, and Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac's 1701 report of swans summering (July 23 – October 8) in the same area: "There are such large numbers of swans that the rushes among which they are massed might be taken for lilies." In the eastern United States, John Lawson's detailed 1701 report potentially extends the historic breeding range to North Carolina. Lawson wrote: "Of the swans we have two sorts, the one we call Trompeters...These are the largest sort we have...when spring comes on they go the Lakes to breed" versus "The sort of Swans called Hoopers; are the least."
