Tundra Swan
Cygnus columbianus
Identification Tips:
- Length: 36 inches Wingspan: 85 inches
- Large, long-necked waterbird with short legs and a short duck-like bill
- Long neck held straight up with a kink at base
Adult:
- Black bill with variably-sized yellow spot at base
- Culmen somewhat concave
- Black of bill extends up to eye but does not encircle it
- Straight demarcation on forehead between black bill and white feathering
- Black legs and feet
- Entirely white plumage
- Sexes similar
Immature:
Similar species:
The very large Tundra Swan is unlikely to be confused with anything but other
swans. White Pelicans, Whooping Cranes, Wood Storks, and
Snow Geese are all
white birds that from a great distance could look like swans but all have black
primaries. The adult Mute Swan can be told from the adult Tundra Swan by its
orange and black knobby bill. The adult Trumpeter Swan is very similar to the
adult Tundra Swan but it is slightly larger, has a straight culmen, the bill has
no yellow spot, the eye is enclosed by black, and the white feathering on the
head extends in a v shape into the dark bill. In the far northwest, a subspecies
of the Tundra Swan shows more yellow at the base of the bill and could be
confused with the Alaskan Whooper Swan. The Whooper Swan has yellow in the bill
that goes beyond the nostril.
Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds
of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.
Above information used courtesy of
United States Geological Survey. Photo courtesy of Patrick Murphy.
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