Trumpeter swan
| Trumpeter swan | |
|---|---|
| Two trumpeter swans recorded at Rapids Lake Unit, Minnesota Valley NWR, Carver County, Minnesota | |
Apparently Secure (NatureServe) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Family: | Anatidae |
| Genus: | Cygnus |
| Species: | C. buccinator
|
| Binomial name | |
| Cygnus buccinator Richardson, 1831
| |
| Range
Breeding Year-round Non-breeding Migration
| |
The trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator), or simply the trumpeter, is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 304.8 cm (6 ft 2 in to 10 ft 2 in). It is the American counterpart and a close relative of the whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) of Eurasia and has even been considered the same species by some authorities. By 1933, fewer than 70 wild individuals were known to exist; extinction seemed imminent until aerial surveys discovered a Pacific population of several thousand trumpeter swans around Alaska's Copper River. Careful reintroductions by wildlife agencies and the Trumpeter Swan Society gradually restored the North American wild population to over 46,000 birds by 2010.