Saturday, January 16, 2010

Trumpeter Swans in Yaphank



The pair of Trumpter Swans which spent the better part of last winter in Yaphank have returned this season (as early as December from what I hear).  Here is a photo I took the morning of December 28, 2009.  The quality is pretty bad (by my standards anyway) but because of the ice and presence of Mute Swans on-site the Trumpeters have been spending a lot of their time on the Northern end of the lake.

In the photos (click to see larger view), the pink line along the beak is visible, which is the give-away for this species which can be tough to differentiate from the Tundra Swan at a distance.  The Tundra Swan however has a yellow spot near its eye, and also will often be seen in agricultural fields feeding.  The Trumpeter Swan is predominantly dabbler and is usually seen feeding in the water.  Here is a photo of one of the swans from LAST winter:


No comments:

Post a Comment