ML48967281

Age and sex

Immature Unknown sex - X

Observation details

1st winter bird. Originally found by Lubbock birders, this bird appears to be a textbook Trumpeter Swan. One of the key features is how dark this individual was given the late date of 8 March. A Tundra Swan should be MUCH whiter by this time. The Tundra we saw in January was already much whiter than this individual in Lubbock. This bird was particularly dark on its head and neck. The angle of the feathers where the forehead meets the bill formed a sharp V instead of the more gentle U shape typical of Tundra Swans. The bill was jet black without a hint of pink. It was also long and formed a strong slope with the head, similar to the angle of a Canvasback. The only mark that seems a little atypical for Trumpeter Swan is there was a bit of a 'kink' or angle along the back edge of the bill near the gape. Sibley illustrates this as being straight edged in Trumpeter Swans and more curved in Tundra Swans. However, I was able to find pictures online that showed quite a bit of variation in this mark, including birds that looks very similar to my photos. In the photos I looked at, it seemed that immature birds showed more of a curve at the gape than adults, but this might be my imagination, sampling, etc. Given all the other marks, I believe it to be a Trumpeter Swan.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

ISO

400

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/1250 sec

Dimensions

800 pixels x 533 pixels

Original file size

173.37 KB