Bird Lady: Trumpeter or Tundra, Swans Are Grand Sight on Winter Waters

Trumpeter or tundra? Which swan is it? Two species of swans winter in the Pacific Northwest and telling them apart can be challenging. If we saw them on a regular basis, it wouldn't be difficult. They do have some identifying characteristics that make them easier to tell apart than you might think.

That old nemesis of size difference enters into the identification of these two birds, but like other look-a-like species, it isn't much help if you don't have the two side by side. Other characteristics work much better when you want to know which swan you are looking at.

Trumpeter swans are larger than the tundra swans. That said, let's focus on these other points. Take a good look at the bird's neck. People think of swans as having a long, graceful and curving neck. That isn't the case when it comes to either the trumpeter or the tundra. They have straight necks.

If the white swan you are attempting to identify has an arching and strongly curved neck, chances are you've stumbled upon a mute swan. This isn't a native bird in North America. It is a European species that has been introduced here. In some parts of the country they have adapted to living in the wild, but most of those seen in the Northwest have escaped from someone who raises them. This swan has an orange bill with a large black knob at the base.

The immature birds in both native species have rather dirty looking necks, but they can be separated from one another by the color of their bills. The immature tundra has a pinkish colored bill with a black tip. The immature trumpeters bill is black like that of the adult.

A swans bill is important when it comes to the bird's identification. I always think of the trumpeter swans looking like they have had their head jammed into their bill. That's because the straight, black bill comes right up to the bird's eyes. It looks like they don't have much of a forehead. The bill follows an almost straight line from eye to eye.

The tundra swan, on the other hand, has a nicely curved forehead above its bill. Most of the time there is a yellow spot on it. This "basal spot" on the bill is in the front of the tundra swan's eye and is very helpful in determining which species you are looking at.

There was a time when you wanted to see swans that you made your annual trek to the Skagit Valley. Wintering flocks of both trumpeters and tundra could be seen in that region. They still can and there are large numbers of them. Closer to home, there are swan-viewing areas on the Olympic Peninsula.

Every winter, trumpeter swans are reported in the fields of the Chimacum Valley. It's great to see trumpeter swans and observe how their numbers increased once hunting was stopped. Back in the '60s there was a real worry that they were facing extinction.

Single swans that show up where they aren't normally seen are usually immature birds that have somehow lost their way. Anywhere there is a lake you just might discover a wintering swan. Otherwise, to see them in their flocks and study each species, try those areas where they regularly spend the winter. Once spring arrives, they leave to nest in the far North. Swans and the possibility of seeing one or several are a winter birding bonus.

Contact Joan Carson at or P.O. Box 532, Poulsbo WA 98370.