identification of native north american species of swans and february bird of the month part 1 4cbc...
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![Page 1: Identification of Native North American Species of Swans and February Bird of the Month PART 1 4CBC 14 February 2012 Tim Reeves Photographs by Tim Reeves](https://reader036.vdocument.in/reader036/viewer/2022070307/551b46e0550346d31b8b4a86/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Identification of Native North American Species of Swans
and February Bird of the MonthPART 1
4CBC 14 February 2012
Tim Reeves
Photographs by Tim Reeves and from Birds of North America Online and from
Bill Schmoker online
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February 2012 Bird of the Month
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February 2012 Bird of the Month
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Swan at Lake Luther 4 Feb 2012
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February 2012 Bird of the Month
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February 2012 Bird of the Month
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February 2012 Bird of the Month
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February 2012 Bird of the Month
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February 2012 Bird of the Month
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February 2012 Bird of the Month
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Reference Photos from BNA online of the 2 Swan Species Native to North America
Trumpeter Swan & Tundra Swan
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Trumpeter Swan
• Forehead feathers come to point at junction with bill
• Broad, triangular black patch of black skin goes to and around eye
• Often has rusty head and neck due to time spent in ferrous waters.
• Line of black facial skin dropping from eye to base of bill uniformly gently curved.
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Trumpeter Swan• Forehead feathers come
to point at junction with bill
• Broad, triangular black patch of black skin goes to and around eye
• Often has rusty head and neck due to time spent in ferrous waters
• Line of black facial skin dropping from eye to base of bill uniformly gently curved
• Forehead slopes straight into the straight culmen = upper edge of upper mandible
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Trumpeter Swan• Forehead feathers come
to point at junction with bill
• Broad, triangular black patch of black skin goes to and around eye
• Often body, neck, and head pure white
• Line of black facial skin dropping from eye to base of bill uniformly gently curved
• Back uniformly gently rounded
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Trumpeter Swan• Forehead slopes
straight down into straight culmen
• Often head and neck rusty from time spent in ferrous waters
• Line of black facial skin dropping from eye to base of bill uniformly gently curved
• Back uniformly gently rounded
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Trumpeter Swan• Freshly fledged young
have pink bills but always with a black base
• Young are uniformly intermediate – darkish gray
• Adult shows most characters already noted
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Trumpeter Swan• Juveniles throughout
winter have black bills with some dark red on culmen
• Juveniles are darker than young fledglings
• Juvenile forehead drops straight down straight culmen just like adult
• Adults show most characters already noted
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Now Switching to Tundra Swan
• Much smaller bird than Trumpeter Swan but definitely size difference best observed when both species are observed together
• Shorter neck than Trumpeter Swan
• Smaller bill that is concave on culmen, not straight
• Much less likely to have rusty head and neck
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Tundra Swan• Adults with concave
culmen = upper edge of upper mandible
• Most birds have yellow spot on lore; spot size varies greatly and is sometimes lacking
• Neck shorter than Trumpeter Swan
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Tundra Swan• Narrow, straight-edged
black facial skin to eye which isolates the larger eye
• Line from eye not uniformly gently curved to bill base. Often bulge or notch at edge near bill base
• Back somewhat more highly humped than in Trumpeter Swan
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Tundra Swan• Narrow, straight-
edged black facial skin to eye
• Line from eye not uniformly gently curved to bill base.
• Back somewhat more highly humped than in Trumpeter Swan
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Tundra Swan• December juveniles
not uniformly darkish gray; pale on lower neck and breast and belly and irregularly on back
• Left bird still showing some faint color in dark bill
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Tundra Swan• Adult forehead
feathers rounded at junction with bill
• Usually yellow lore• Eye looks isolated,
being larger than the narrow yellow/black skin path to eye from bill
• Crown rounded, not dropping straight into the somewhat concave culmen
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Tundra Swan• Recently fledged
young are pale gray• They have pink bills
which are not black at the base
• The eye is completely isolated from bill
• The adult shows the narrow straight edged black skin extending to the eye
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Now back to our Bird of the Month
• I photographed these 6 swans at Lake Luther during the Farmington Christmas Bird Count on 17 December 2011.
• All birds were the same size as the two original groups of 3 joined each other
• 1 family with one juvenile was present
• 3 other adults formed the other group, all birds with rusty heads