Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Trumpeter Swan(Cygnus buccinator)

Trumpeter Swan [lateral view of adult]. Photograph Credit: Ed Schneider; City Lake, Putnam County, Tennessee; 15 December 2010.

Abundance: Occasional; 2 records, 1 each in a Kentucky county and a Tennessee county (Map of UCR Distribution); data from the Regional bird-monitoring efforts are too few to determine a trend in the population visiting the Region (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Visitor during winter; photographs (see links below).

Information on Records: 

18 December 2008–7 January 2009 (1—juvenile) Cooley's Pond, Wayne County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton photo, photo, Stephen J. Stedman (18 December 2008) and Brainard Palmer-Ball (7 January 2009).

14–22 December 2010 (2—adults) City Lake, Putnam County, Tennessee (Barbara H. Stedman, Stephen J. Stedman et al., including Ed Schneider photo [15 December 2010; see above]), a CBC record in part.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: no registrations.

Remarks: The "countability" of this species remains a somewhat murky issue, but sufficient records from western Kentucky have now accumulated, presumably deriving from the mid-western reintroduction effort, that it seems safe to include this species in the Regional avifauna as well.

    Two swans, thought to be hybrid Mute X Trumpeter Swans based in part on the highly unusual color pattern of their bills, were noted 8 January 2008 at General Burnside Island State Park, Pulaski County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton photo; Palmer-Ball and McNeeley 2008b).  Two swans believed to be the same individuals were found near London, Kentucky, a week or so after the Burnside sighting; these swans were quite tame and were apparently returning to the London site for the second winter.

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited