The Tundra Swan is a wild, far-northern swan that visits Michigan twice a year on its long journeys between the Arctic tundra and the Atlantic coast. Slightly smaller than the Trumpeter Swan, it is all white with a black bill that usually shows a small yellow spot in front of the eye, and it carries its neck straight rather than curved. Migrating flocks travel in long lines and Vs, filling the sky with a soft, melodious, hooting call — quite different from the deep trumpeting of its larger cousin.
Tundra Swans do not nest in Michigan; they breed on the high Arctic tundra and pass through the state in spring and again in late fall, sometimes in spectacular numbers, stopping to rest and feed on large lakes, Great Lakes bays, and flooded fields and grain fields. Telling a distant Tundra Swan from a Trumpeter Swan can be tricky, since both are large, all-white, and black-billed; voice, bill shape, and the yellow eye-spot are the best clues.
Feeds on the leaves, stems, roots, and tubers of aquatic plants by dabbling and up-ending in the shallows, and increasingly forages in fields on waste grain, grasses, and crop remains during migration. Large flocks gather to feed at traditional stopover wetlands and farmlands.
No. It nests on the high Arctic tundra and only passes through Michigan on migration, in spring and again in late fall, resting and feeding on lakes, bays, and flooded fields.
The Tundra Swan is a bit smaller with a rounder head, a black bill that often shows a small yellow spot before the eye, and a soft, hooting, quavering call. The Trumpeter is larger with a longer straight bill and a deep, resonant trumpeting call.
Late fall is often the peak, when large flocks stage on Great Lakes bays and flooded fields before continuing south, with another passage in spring. Listen for their melodious calls from high-flying lines and Vs.
Cygnets are dingy gray-brown with a pinkish bill that gradually blackens, and they migrate through Michigan with their parents in family groups. Adults are white with a black bill and usually a small yellow spot at the eye.
A wedge in flight and a bevy or herd on the water. Migrating flocks travel in family groups, and the yelping chorus of a big staging flock is one of the signature sounds of a Michigan November.
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