1 / 4
Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus) — photo 1 of 4
© Pascal Aleixandre CC BY-SA 3.0

Ducks, geese, and swans · Waterfowl

Whooper Swan

Cygnus cygnus

Year-round

Voice

Call

Grégoire Chauvot

1:04

Call

Sonothèque ADVL

0:14

Alarm

Sonothèque ADVL

0:59

How to recognize it

  • 140–165 cm, larger than a goose

  • White body, long straight neck

  • Yellow bill with black tip

  • Loud trumpeting "gang-go"

About the species

The whooper swan has a calm, steady look on the water and a long, upright neck that gives it a clean, streamlined outline. Adults are white, while younger ones are noticeably greyer and darker on the head.

It usually moves at an easy pace, but if disturbed it prefers open water and takes off with a long, splashing run. Its voice is loud and trumpet-like, and it carries well in flight and during courtship displays.

It needs large bodies of water, often with thick shoreline vegetation and some distance from people. It feeds mainly on aquatic plants, and in winter and on migration it stays where the water does not freeze completely.

Did you know?

  • Sense the drift and steer back

    Radio-tracked Whooper Swans drifted off course by crosswinds detect the displacement and re-steer themselves back onto their normal migration route.

  • Iceland west, Eurasia east

    The Icelandic and Eurasian Whooper Swan populations wintering in Britain stay almost completely separate — Iceland birds in the west, Eurasian birds in the east, with no real overlap.

  • Paddles feet to stir up the bottom

    Whooper Swans graze underwater by neck-dipping and up-ending — and unlike the other swans, they frequently paddle their feet at the same time to stir up vegetation.

Where to find

  • Along large unfrozen ponds and canal stretches — especially by reed beds and gentle banks, where a loud honking call carries over the water.

  • On broad park lakes and reservoirs — look for a pair gliding far from shore, keeping to the middle instead of the edge.

  • At quiet lake fringes in winter — easiest to notice when it takes off after a long water run, feet pattering and wings beating hard.

You might also see

Sources