Trumpeter Swans...

Photos by Barry Wallace

Trumpeter Swan

(Cygnus buccinator)

The Trumpeter Swan is the largest native species in Northern America.   With a wingspan of more than 7 feet and a height of 4 feet, snow-white Trumpeters present a truly spectacular sight.   

The Trumpeter Swan's long neck and feet allow it to easily uproot plants in water up to 4 feet deep.   Depending on the minerals in the water in which they forage, Trumpeters can often take on a rusty iron coloration, as in the photo above.   These big birds were once fairly common throughout a large part of the northern United States and Canada, but market hunting and the millinery trade depleted nesting populations during the 19th century.   Huge numbers of swan skins ended up in Europe to make ladies' powder puffs, while the feathers adorned fashionable hats.    Though decimated over the decades, enough swans survived to become the salvation of the many, many birds that we see today in numerous U.S. and Canadian locations.

Above, mature cygnets and a parent

All photos shown 

here were taken 

in York Region.

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Barry the Birder