Swan & Goose IDentification

Reports from wildlife watchers and sportsmen will help the biologists monitor the recovery of trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator). Positive identification is essential, as trumpeters often mix with flocks of the relatively common tundra (whistling) swans (C. columbianus) throughout their migration and winter range. Distinguishing trumpeters from tundras is not easy, but it is possible by paying close attention to a few distinctive characteristics. The mute swan (C. owl) is an introduced Eurasian species that occurs in North American avicultural collections and in the wild primarily along the east coast, Great Lakes and in other limited areas of me United Slates and Western British Columbia. It is included here for clarification in those areas where it occurs with our native trumpeter and tundra swans