Articles
22nd March 2007
Sandra Wood
First day of Spring brought a flock of over 30 swans to feed along the shoreline of Squirrel Cove. I believe they were Tundra Swans...
Once called Whistling Swans, they are easily recognized (or heard) from distance, with their soft musical laughter wow-HOW-ow or who-who's being yodeled.
They breed in the tundra within the arctic circle (that's where their name come from) and winter mainly on Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America from southern British Columbia to California. Spring migration to breeding grounds in Northern Canada, Alaska & Russia usually occurs in March-April.
Tundra swans are often confused with trumpeter swans and mute swans (see diagram below). Adult swans weigh 20-30 pounds, stand four feet tall and have a wing spans up to seven feet. Males are called cobs, and females are called pens.
Adult swans have snow-white plumage, but often the head and neck are stained a rusty color from feeding in water containing iron. The bill is black, and often has a red border on the edge of the lower mandible, resembling lipstick. The feet are black.
By 1900, a century of unregulated killing nearly wiped out the entire continent's population of swans from all but several isolated breeding areas. Swans were killed for their meat, but even more so for their plumage, which was used to make powder puffs, writing pens, and fashionable trim for hats and other clothing in Europe.
Passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by the US Congress in 1918 provided protection for swans in the U.S. and has helped to slowly rebuild flocks through conservation efforts.
Pacific Coast population (Mitchell 1994) still faces a serious threat of winter habitat loss to development. Swans are sensitive to human disturbance (especially boating & float-planes).
Adults feed mostly on aquatic vegetation, also grasses, sedges, thin-shelled mollusks, aquatic insects and crustaceans. Water quality important for aquatic and emergent plant species utilized for as food source.
Proposed Geoduck Clam Farms along Squirrel Cove Shores could potentially have a negative impact on the feeding grounds for swans and other vulnerable/endangered species.
Once called Whistling Swans, they are easily recognized (or heard) from distance, with their soft musical laughter wow-HOW-ow or who-who's being yodeled.
They breed in the tundra within the arctic circle (that's where their name come from) and winter mainly on Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America from southern British Columbia to California. Spring migration to breeding grounds in Northern Canada, Alaska & Russia usually occurs in March-April.
Tundra swans are often confused with trumpeter swans and mute swans (see diagram below). Adult swans weigh 20-30 pounds, stand four feet tall and have a wing spans up to seven feet. Males are called cobs, and females are called pens.
Adult swans have snow-white plumage, but often the head and neck are stained a rusty color from feeding in water containing iron. The bill is black, and often has a red border on the edge of the lower mandible, resembling lipstick. The feet are black.
By 1900, a century of unregulated killing nearly wiped out the entire continent's population of swans from all but several isolated breeding areas. Swans were killed for their meat, but even more so for their plumage, which was used to make powder puffs, writing pens, and fashionable trim for hats and other clothing in Europe.
Passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by the US Congress in 1918 provided protection for swans in the U.S. and has helped to slowly rebuild flocks through conservation efforts.
Pacific Coast population (Mitchell 1994) still faces a serious threat of winter habitat loss to development. Swans are sensitive to human disturbance (especially boating & float-planes).
Adults feed mostly on aquatic vegetation, also grasses, sedges, thin-shelled mollusks, aquatic insects and crustaceans. Water quality important for aquatic and emergent plant species utilized for as food source.
Proposed Geoduck Clam Farms along Squirrel Cove Shores could potentially have a negative impact on the feeding grounds for swans and other vulnerable/endangered species.
