Appearing first as white scribbles in the sky in winter and early in spring in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, they come closer swiftly in large V's and long lines, bugling musically all the while. Soon their flocks, one after another, circle a harvested cornfield, a green rye field or a human-made impoundment before landing on it to feed or rest respectively. Then down they come, group after group, like many white parachutes, their wings fully stretched and black legs and webbed feet extended to brace their descent on land or water. They are tundra swans; large, white waterfowl that nest on the Arctic tundra. Half their population winters on the Pacific Coast while the other half winters on the greater Chesapeake Bay Region of the Atlantic Coast.
Three kinds of swans are spotted in southeastern Pennsylvania in a year's time, the migrant tundra swans, resident mute swans and the occasional trumpeter swans. All these species are big, powerful flyers, have white feathering, and are elegant in the sky and on land and water. They all have boat-like bodies, and long necks that help make them appear stately. All of them are beautiful, and inspiring to see, exciting birders and non-birders alike.
Only subtle differences identify the adults of these swans. Tundra swans have a yellow mark on each side of the black beak just in front of the eye. Trumpeters have a red line on both sides of the lower mandible of their beaks, while mutes have orange beaks with a black knob on top of each one. Young, but fully feathered, swans of all species have light-brown feathering and dull-pink bills. Baby swans of all types have light-gray fuzz until their feathers develop.
There are about 100,000 tundra swans in North America and about half of them winter along the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina's Outer Banks to southeastern Pennsylvania, but mostly around the Chesapeake, their traditional winter home. Sometime in winter, at least a few thousand of them pour onto the large lake at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, which straddles the Lancaster/Lebanon County line, to rest. They feed in nearby fields in southern Lebanon County, exciting people with their airborne flocks going to and from the fields.
Sometime in March, depending on the weather, tundra swans start their migration north to the tundra to raise young. They stop at the Great Lakes Region for a week or more, then hop across Canada to the tundra along the Arctic Ocean, entering it about the middle of May.
Mute swans are originally from Eurasia, but were introduced to North America as exotic birds on estate and farm ponds. Several mutes, particularly young birds that hatched in North America, escaped captivity and established wild, permanent resident, breeding populations here, especially on the Hudson River, Delmarva and Chesapeake Bay Areas. Some farmers today raise young mute swans from mated pairs on farm ponds. Some of those young swans are sold as ornamental birds on ponds and lakes.
Mute swans can be aggressive toward people and geese and ducks, sometimes ruining the nesting success of those groups of birds. For those reasons, many people are not in favor of having mute swans in North America. But they are majestic birds, and the only swan species the Middle Atlantic States in summer.
Trumpeter swans are the largest waterfowl in North America. They were pushed almost to extinction on this continent because of habitat loss and over-shooting, but, with protection, have made a comeback. Once limited to scattered populations in the western mountain area of this continent, they now can be spotted occasionally almost anywhere in North America, including in the Middle Atlantic States, though they don't breed here yet. But any spotting of those magnificent birds causes excitement.
Watch for these majestic, stately birds at anytime of year. They are beautiful and inspiring, and able to cause excitement among birders and non-birders alike.
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