Trumpeter Swan

Photo courtesy of ZooNet Image Archives

Olor buccinator

  • Call

  • Long point Country has long been use to the spring spectacular arrival of the Whistling Swans or as they are now called Tundra Swans, but sparsely scattered throughout this migration is the occasional Trumpeter Swan which is larger than the Whistling Swan. They are told apart from the Whistling Swan not only by their larger size but also by yellow feet and loud, low-pitched, trumpeting. The trumpeter swan has long been used for its plumage and meat. Remains from prehistoric settlements in North America indicate that the trumpeter swan was eaten and that trumpeter swan bones were used to make primitive tools and beads. American painter John James Audubon used the quills of trumpeter swans to draw the fine detail in many of his drawings. Trumpeter swans were driven to the brink of extinction by 1933, when only 33 birds remained. Today trumpeter swans are making a comeback, and their numbers are slowly increasing.

    Oxford Scientific FilmsBBC Natural History Sound Library. All rights reserved.


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