Swans

The Trumpeter Swan, is the largest waterfowl in the world with a length of 64 inches and weight of 26 pounds.  They have white plumage with a long neck, a black bill subtly marked with salmon-pink along the mouthline, and usually has short usually dark legs. Natural populations of Trumpeter Swans are migratory spending their summers in Alaska, and wintering in small pockets of Washington, Montana, and the southernmost parts of Eastern British Columbia and Western Alberta.They feed while swimming, sometimes up-ending or dabbling to reach submerged food. The diet is almost entirely aquatic plants.

Trumpeter Swan

photo taken at Frenchman's Hill, Central Washington

Trumpeter Swan

photo taken on Fir Island, Washington

Tundra Swan (also called the Whistling Swan) weighs about 15 pounds, with a body length of 52 inches and wingspan of 66 inches, making it smaller than the Trumpeter Swan.  They are particularly vocal when foraging in flocks on their wintering grounds (similar to the Sandhill Cranes). As their common name implies, the Tundra Swan breeds in the Arctic and Subarctic Tundra. Like the Trumpeter Swan it too is migratory wintering on grassland/marshland. But unlike the rarer Trumpeter Swan, it winters throughout much of the Northern US and Canada. When migrating they fly in the typical "V" formation at altitudes of 27,000 feet.

Tundra Swan

photo taken at Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon

Tundra Swan

photo taken at Portage Creek Wildlife Preserve, Washington