Description

Distribution and Habitat

Once fairly widespread, trumpeter swans are now only found in isolated populations in western Canada and the western United States. It inhabits lakes, ponds, large rivers, bays, and sometimes grain fields with large ponds.

Reproduction

Trumpeters breed from April through May. The nest is a large bulky platform of aquatic vegetation lined with down. Clutch sizes range from as few as two to as many as ten eggs.

Diet

The trumpeter swan's diet is almost entirely vegetarian, consisting primarily of the leaves and stems of aquatic plants, seeds, and grain tubers, occasionally supplemented by insects, snails, small reptiles and fish, and molluscs.

Scientific Classification

phylum Chordata
subphylum Vertebrata
class Aves
order Anseriformes
family Anatidae
subfamily Anserinae
genus & species Cygnus buccinator

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