Stanley Park Ecology Society News

We received a call today from one of Stanley Park’s bird lovers and he alerted us to the fact that we probably had a juvenile Trumpeter Swan out on Lost Lagoon. It is quite easy to spot the many introduced Mute Swans out on the water with their distinctive orange bill and the black knob at the bill’s base (see inset photo) but the extra swan out there today had a distinctly dark bill with an orange “grin” line running along the bottom. Judging by the size, it was last year’s cygnet but of which native species - the Tundra Swan or the Trumpeter Swan?
The young Tundra Swan at this time of year is really quite white compared to a Trumpeter Swan of the same age - Trumpeters tend to retain more of the grey-brown colouration on their back and neck. Adult Tundra Swans also tend to have a yellow spot on their lores (area between the bill and the eyes) which can appear on sub-adults as a light greyish spot in the same area. Even though we don’t see this spot on the swan below, we must keep in mind that not all Tundras develop the yellow spot. The easiest way to tell these two birds apart is by listening to their calls and sure enough, this young swan had that distinctive trumpet-like call. Mystery solved and Lost Lagoon shoots up another notch on my list of things to always look at twice.
Anyone interested in hearing the difference between Tundra and Trumpeter calls can check out this site but please be aware that it is an external link and not our content.