Alaskan Swan with Cygnets

To take my cygnets to all places wild and beautiful!

Trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) and tundra swans (C. columbianus) are the two species of swans native to North America, both nesting in Alaska. The tundra swan was formerly named the whistling swan. A few whooper swans (C. cygnus), an Asian temperate region relative to trumpeters, are occasionally seen in the Aleutian Islands during winter.
General description: The trumpeter is the world's largest member of the waterfowl family, with males averaging 28 pounds (12.7 kg) and females averaging 22 pounds (10.0 kg). Eggs of trumpeters sometimes are 5 inches long (12.6 cm)! Like all swans, the sexes have identical plumage, and both tundra and trumpeter swan adults are all white. However, in some Alaska locales, iron-rich marshes stain head and neck feathers a rusty color. Feathers of immature swans are an ash gray color, and some gray feathers remain evident on the heads and necks of swans that are 1 and 2 years old. Trumpeter swans have an angular wedge-shaped head profile, with the black of the bill appearing to merge with the eye. Their bills are all black, with a red border on the mandible (lower jaw). One sure way to identify trumpeters is by their deep, French horn-like call, compared to the higher “whoop” of the tundra swan. Although less than two-thirds the size of trumpeters, tundra swans are often difficult to distinguish from their close relative when seen in the field. Adult tundra swans frequently, but not always, have a yellow spot on their black bill near the eye. Their profile suggests a forehead
and the eye appears separate from the bill. Formerly, the trumpeter swan occupied a breeding range over much of northern North America. Typically, it is a bird of temperate region forests and prairies. Due to intense exploitation by market hunters in the Lower 48 States, who sold both the swan's meat and feathers, the trumpeter was considered an endangered species by the early 1900s. Hunting of swans was stopped soon after. By 1932, biologists knew of only 69 trumpeters in the wild (birds in Alaska were not yet known). Trumpeters were first identified in Alaska in 1850. Although they were never as scarce as trumpeters, tundra swans were also subjected to market hunting but have increased in number since 1920.

North American tundra swans occur as two distinct populations. Eastern tundra swans breed from northwest Alaska through the Canadian arctic (about 10,000 are from Alaska) and migrate across the continent to winter on the Atlantic coast. Historically, most of them were attracted to abundant aquatic vegetation in Chesapeake Bay, but pollution and degradation of the bay have led the majority of swans to winter in North Carolina. Relatively high survival rates and recently learned patterns of feeding in agricultural fields have produced a steady increase in the eastern population to over 100,000 swans in 1992. The western population of tundra swans has increased since the 1940s and has averaged about 60,000 since 1970.

Swans pair with mates for life, usually as 2-year-olds, but delay breeding until their third, fourth, or even fifth year. If one of the pair is lost, a new mate will be found before the next breeding season. Because of the lengthy development period for their young, swans begin nesting as early as spring thaw permits.  Trumpeters select a nest site typically in an undisturbed marsh adjacent to a small lake. Tundra swans usually nest on elevated sites near large ponds or lakes that have emergent plant beds. Construction begins by uprooting nearby plants to form a nest mound that may be used year after year. When finished, a trumpeter nest is 6 to 12 feet in diameter and about 1 to 2 feet above water level with a ring of open water surrounding it. The female lays two to seven eggs (average four) over the next 5 to 12 days. While the trumpeter female (called a “pen”) attends to nesting duties, her mate (the “cob”) defends a territory around the nest. Tundra swans are also very territorial, but male and female tundra swans take turns incubating the eggs. During incubation, the cob begins a wing feather molt which leaves him flightless for about a month. The young, or cygnets, hatch after 31 to 35 days of incubation. For the next 11 to 15 weeks the breeding pair guards their cygnets until
they fledge. During this time, the adult female completes her molt. Tundra swans require about three weeks less time than trumpeters for the cygnets to achieve flight, allowing them to nest in tundra areas having shorter summers than the more temperate regions used by trumpeters. In some years, early freeze-up causes significant losses of young for tundra and trumpeter swans. After this critical period in its life, a swan's chances of survival are generally high and their life span is relatively long for birds.  Alaska's swans begin flying south in late September or October, depending on the weather. Both species of swan migrate as family units or in small flocks comprised of several families and some nonbreeders.
In summer, swans eat foliage, seeds, and tubers of various marsh plants such as horsetail, pondweeds, sedge, bulrush, water milfoil, widgeongrass, and pond lily.  Young cygnets grow rapidly and require a high protein diet of aquatic invertebrates during the first few weeks. Gradually they shift to a vegetable diet similar to that of adults. On staging areas
and wintering grounds in the Lower 48 States, tundra and trumpeter swans have learned to feed in agricultural fields, on vegetables, winter wheat, and unharvested grain. In most cases, swans benefit from these rich winter food sources, but conflicts with farmers can arise from roving flocks of swans that can cause significant damage to crops.