The Whistling Swan
When autumn colors begin to show on the tundra, islands of Alaska, and
northern Canada, companies of whistling swans (Olor columbianus)
practice formation flying. In taking off, they run on the surface of
the water for fifteen to twenty feet, kicking up a spray of water several
feet high. A strong cob (male -- the female is a pen) leads
each wedge, or ribbon, into the air. The dusky cygnets (young),
placed between snowy adults, are sucked along by the air turbulence
stirred up by the stronger bird ahead. With neck outstretched, wings
beating slowly and regularly, these swans climb until they can hardly
be seen from the ground. In migrating, their flying speed may reach 100
miles per hour. (It was a "whistler" at six thousand feet elevation
that struck and crippled the tail of an airliner in 1962, causing the
plane to crash.) High pitched cooing notes, not as harsh as the honking
of geese, a musical "woo-ho, woo-woo, woo-ho" can be heard long before
the birds can be seen.
Migrating whistling swans frequently visit large inland bodies of water
enroute to coastal winter resorts in southern California and Mexico.
Utah is in the Pacific Flyway, and the swans come to Ogden Bay Refuge
and Bear River Bay Refuge in great numbers. They are arriving now
(October), and remain for one to two months, resting and regaining their
strength by feasting on the sago pondweed. At the peak of migration,
there may be about forty thousand swans here. They are best seen in early
morning (dawn), or at dusk.
Whistling swans pair off at approximately three years of age, probably
for life, but do not breed until the age of five years. A bulky, untidy
nest of grass, moss and roots is made close to water on an island or
margin of a tundra pool. The four or five creamy white eggs, cradled in
swansdown, are incubated for about forty days by both parents. The
cygnets reach their adult plumage in about fifteen months. The family
remains together for at least one year.
The "whistler" is the common wild swan of the west, and is identified by
their completely white wings and long, outstretched necks. A small
yellow spot at the base of the black bill (which has no knob), seen only
at close range, and their smaller size distinguishes them from the
Trumpeter swans. Their food, obtained by
"tipping up", in addition to the sago pondweed, consists of wild celery,
widgeon grass, and thin shelled mollusks. Floating leftovers provide food
for other waterfowl.
The law protects the whistling swans in their winter homes. However, in
Utah a limited number of swan permits are issued, and many other swans
are killed through carelessness. But their characteristic wariness and
the remoteness of their summer homes are survival factors for the
species. Much more abundant than the Trumpeters, they are in no danger
of extinction at present.
-- by Marie L. Atkinson
REFERENCES:
Field Guide to Western Birds
Roger Tory Peterson
National Geographic
S. Dillon Ripley
Field Book of Natural History
E. Laurence Palmer
Utah Fish and Game Department