Trumpeter Swan

Table

Trumpeter Swan – Accepted
1. 08 Nov 1935		Bailey Creek LAS	1984-189	10,30	see McLean 1937
2. 01 Jan–09 Mar 1962	ASY	Abbotts Lagoon MRN	1984-193	10,14	Fig. 10, ph.
3. 13–22 Jan 1973	ASY	Carrizo Plain SLO	1980-179	7	Fig. 11, ph., Schram 1973, Roberson (1980)
4. 01 Jan–17 Feb 1975	ASY	El Monte LA	1980-131	6
and 13–15 Mar 1975	ASY	Covina LA
5-8. 27 Nov 1977	4 AHY	Mono Lake MNO	1978-002	4
9. 24 Feb 1979	ASY	Tule Lake LAK	1979-016	5
10. 23 Dec 1984	AHY	Tule Lake NWR SIS	1985-028	12	green-collared bird
11. 23 Dec 1984	AHY	Tule Lake NWR MOD	1985-196	12
12-15. 02 Dec 1985–14 Mar 1986	4 AHY	Smith R. bottoms DN	1986-001	11
16-17. 01 Feb 1986	2 ASY	King I. SJ	1986-340	12
18-20. 30 Dec 1986	3	Butte Sink SUT	1987-018	14
21-22. 18 Jan 1987	2 ASY	Tule Lake NWR SIS	1987-078	12
23. 26 Dec 1987	ASY	vic. Stockton SJ	1988-060	13
24-26. 12 Feb 1988	3 ASY	Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1988-295	13
27-28. 02–03 Jan 1989	2 SY	Honey Lake Wildlife Area LAS	1989-079	13
29. 10 Feb 1989		Nelson BUT	1989-052	15	red-collared bird from NW Territories
30-31. 30 Nov 1991	2 AHY	Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1991-210	18	ph.
32-34. 28 Feb 1992	3	Sierra Valley PLU	1992-091	18
35-36. 27 Nov 1993	2	Tule Lake NWR SIS	1994-003	19	sketch in Erickson & Terrill (1996)
37. 03 Feb 1994	ASY	~7.5 mi. nne Marysville YUB	1998-077	24	ph.
38. 17 Dec 1995	AHY	Rindge Tract SJ	1998-215	24
39. 04 Jan 1996	ASY	vic. Grimes COL	1996-037	23	one of two reported
40. 02 Jan–27 Feb 1999	ASY	Pleasant Vly. Res./Tinnemaha Res. INY	1999-020	25	ph., green-collared bird from ne Idaho
41-43. 22 Jan 1999	3	Staten Island SJ	1999-049	25,28
44. 19 Dec 1999	AHY	Smith R. bottoms DN	1999-212	25
45-46. 14 Dec 2000	2 AHY	vic. Marysville YUB	2000-158	27
47. 05 Jan 2001	ASY	vic. Nelson BUT	2001-020	27
48-49. 26 Jan 2001	2 ASY	vic. Alturas MOD	2001-036	27
50-51. 18 Dec 2001	2	Marysville YUB	2002-055	29
52. 30 Dec 2001	AHY	Tule Lake NWR SIS	2002-060	27
53-54. 26–27 Dec 2002	2 AHY	Tule Lake NWR SIS	2003-022	28	ph.
55-57. 08 Feb–07 Mar 2003	3 ASY	Modoc NWR MOD	2003-026	29	ph.
58. 11 Mar 2003	SY	Modoc NWR MOD	2003-043	29
59. 12 Mar 2003	SY	Lower Klamath NWR SIS	2003-044	29

Trumpeter Swan – Not accepted, identification not established
? Jan 1957		Wards Lake LAS	1984-109	14
01–13 Jan 1963		Abbotts Lagoon MRN	1992-097	16
21 Jan 1963		Empire Track, Stockton SJ	1984-190	10
early Feb–25 Mar 1967		Pescadero SM	1989-082	14	ph.
31 Dec 1967–14 Jan 1968	5	vic. Santa Rosa SON	1977-041	5
29 Dec 1968	3	Año Nuevo State Reserve SM	1984-191	10
02 Mar 1969		s Humboldt Bay HUM	1984-192	10
17 Nov 1974	3	Santa Clara R. mouth VEN	1988-198	15	ph.
15 Jul 1975		Shingletown SHA	1986-194	14
11 Nov 1978		Lake Merced SF	1978-125	6
04 Feb 1979		Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1986-195	12
Trumpeter Swan – Not accepted, identification not established (continued)
02 Jan 1982		Chico BUT	1982-002	9
05 Dec 1983		Antelope Valley LA	1990-047	14
06 Jan 1984	20	Clear Lake NWR MOD	1987-068	12
15 Dec 1984		Diaz Lake INY	1985-029	12
21 Mar 1986		Colusa NWR COL	1987-070	14
20–25 Jan 1988		Modesto STA	1988-208	13,15	ph., AB 42:314, SBMNH 4059 (skeleton of Tundra Swan)
18 Mar–02 Apr 1988		Sierra Valley PLU	1988-111	16	video
29 Dec 1988		Lake Almanor PLU	1989-200	15
20 Jan 1989		Venice I. SJ	1989-053	16
23 Dec 1989		~5 mi. s Talmage MEN	1990-060	15	ph.
01 Jan 1991	2	n Stockton SJ	1991-059	16
02–06 Jan 1991	5	Arcata bottoms HUM	1991-058	17	Fig. 12, ph., Heindel & Patten (1996)
28 Apr 1991		Goose Lake MOD	1992-020	17
24 Dec 1991		Tule Lake NWR MOD	1992-218	17
18 Jan 1992		Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1992-104	18
07 Feb 1993	3	Modoc NWR MOD	1997-199	22
15 Feb 1993	3	Lake Almanor PLU	1993-068	21
10 Dec 1994	2	Lake Mendocino MEN	1998-128	23
07 Feb 1995		vic. Grimes COL	1995-022	22
04 Jan 1996		vic. Grimes COL	1996-037	23	see table entry 39
14 Feb 1998		Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1998-194	24
15 Feb 1998		Ash Creek Wildlife Area LAS	1998-195	24
16 Nov 1998		Cosumnes R. Preserve SAC	1998-227	24
16 Dec 1998		vic. Marysville YUB	1998-228	24
19 Dec 1998		Bobelaine Sanctuary SUT	1999-019	25
29 Dec 1998	5	Trinity Center TRI	1999-023	24
24 Jan 1999		Cosumnes R. Preserve SAC	1999-085	25
08 Mar 1999	8	Modoc NWR MOD	1999-084	25
22 Jan 2001	4	Yuba City SUT	2001-021	27

Trumpeter Swan – Not accepted, establishment of introduced population questionable (identification established)
02 Feb 1987	2 ASY	Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1987-153	22
01 Jan–15 Feb 1988	TY	Lake Almanor PLU	1988-204	22
23 Jan 1992	ASY	Tecopa INY	1992-206	22	ph.
24–27 Dec 1992	3 HY	Independence INY	1993-065	22	ph.
and 05 Apr 1993	3 SY	Klondike Lake INY			see records not submitted
30 Nov–26 Dec 1993	2	Modoc NWR MOD	1994-004	21,22
22–23 Dec 1998	AHY	vic. Roseville PLA	1998-230	24

Trumpeter Swan – Not submitted
various 19th-century records		locations unspecified	2004-601	14	see Grinnell & Miller (1944)
22 Dec 1893		Buena Vista Lake KER	2004-600	14
29 Dec 1963	2	Pt. Reyes MRN		14	AFN 18:321
14–20 Jan 1968	2	Limantour Estero MRN			AFN 22:473
08 Feb–14 Mar 1969	5	vic. Santa Rosa SON			AFN 23:515
Jan/Feb 1979	>1?	Lower Klamath NWR SIS/MOD			AB 33:309
04 Jan 1992		Goose Lake MOD			AB 46:311
winter 1992/1993	18	SIS to YOL			AB 47:296, color-marked transplants
22–31 Jan 1993	3 SY	Tinnemaha Res. INY			AB 47:300, see record 1993-065 under “Not accepted, establishment of introduced population questionable (identification established)”
14–16 Dec 2000		Lake Combie PLA			NAB 55:224
10 Jan 2002		Cosumnes R. Preserve SAC			Central Valley Bird Club Bull. 5:26
03–04 Jan 2003		Staten I. SJ			Central Valley Bird Club Bull. 6:37
20 Jan 2003		vic. Blythe RIV			NAB 57:256, from managed population

Figures

Figure 9. Distribution of 59 Trumpeter Swans accepted through 2003. Most records are from the interior, and very few are from the state’s southern half.

Figure 10. The first Trumpeter Swan photographed in California—an adult at Abbotts Lagoon, Marin County, on 4 January 1962—showed several characteristic marks, including an “unpinched” black loral area with no yellow spot, feathering that formed a nearly straight border between eye and gape, and a large bill with the culmen only slightly curved (1984-193; Grace M. Miller).

Image3456.TIF

Figure 11. In direct comparison to an adult Tundra Swan (right), note the much larger size and more extensively black face of California’s third Trumpeter Swan (left), an adult photographed on 22 January 1973 on the Carrizo Plain, San Luis Obispo County (1980-179; Brad Schram).

Image3508.TIF

Figure 12. After a lengthy review, Committee members were unable to reach a consensus concerning the identification of this family group of swans present from 2 to 6 January 1991 in the Arcata bottoms of Humboldt County. Many reviewers ultimately concluded that the birds may have been Tundra Swans (1991-058; Michael Hughes).

Trumpeter Swan

TRUMPETER SWAN Cygnus buccinator Richardson, 1832

Accepted: 59 (37%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 103	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 37+	Color image: none

This swan breeds in Alaska and western Canada and at scattered sites in the interior West. After being extirpated from much of its former range in Canada and the interior United States, this species has been re-introduced to historic breeding locations and established in some new ones eastward to the eastern Great Lakes. These conservation measures have enjoyed generally high rates of success (e.g., Mitchell 1994), and the wintering population in western Washington has increased greatly over the past two decades. Marked birds from managed populations have been recorded in places as distant as Texas, Mississippi, Chihuahua (Mitchell 1994), and recently California (see below). An unmarked yearling found in Massachusetts in March 2004 (NAB 58:340) presumably originated in one of the more easterly managed populations. Birds recorded in Arizona and New Mexico during recent years are of questionable origin.

Grinnell and Miller (1944) discussed many early reports from California, but no specimens were preserved, so the CBRC cannot verify any of these early reports. The first record with acceptable documentation refers to a bird observed closely and heard on 8 November 1935 at Bailey Creek Meadow between Grasshopper Valley and Termo, Lassen County (McLean 1937). The first modern record to be physically documented (photographed, in this case) involves an adult present 1 January–9 March 1962 at Abbotts Lagoon in Marin County (Figure 10). All acceptable records fall between 8 November and 15 March, and most are from midwinter.

The Trumpeter Swan is one of relatively few species for which the Committee has accepted fewer than half of the submitted records. Identification problems are considerable and perhaps still underappreciated, especially for first-year birds that have not developed the diagnostic feather patterns around the eye and bill (e.g., see Figure 12, Patten and Heindel 1994). Trumpeter Swans may be more numerous in California than is suggested by the number of accepted records, but misidentifications remain all too frequent. Many reports pertain to lone, silent birds, which do not allow direct comparisons of size, structure, and voice with known Tundra Swans. Only with extensive field experience can one fully understand the variations in size and appearance exhibited by Trumpeter and Tundra Swans (e.g., McEneaney 2005 reviewed rare color variants in the former species) or the range of their vocal repertoires.

Complicating matters further, California has hosted a number of Trumpeter Swans that were transplanted by wildlife managers or that originated from introduced populations. For example, breeding programs have been initiated in both Oregon (mainly at Summer Lake) and Washington (e.g., at Turnbull NWR, where past attempts to establish a population failed; Wahl et al. 2005), even though the species never bred in these states historically (Feltner et al. 1989, Marshall et al. 2003). Collared birds dispersing from these places, and from southern Idaho, have reached California, including southerly records from Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Counties in December 2004 (NAB 59:323; after the cutoff date for this book). On 6 March 2005 the Los Angeles County bird was photographed at Lake Havasu in San Bernardino County (NAB 59:49, CBRC unpubl. data). The CBRC has not accepted such records as involving naturally occurring vagrants. See also Appendix H.