Whooper Swan
Cygnus cygnus
The Whooper Swan is the national bird of Finland and is famous for its loud, bugle-like 'whooping' call produced by a long, looped windpipe.
- Scientific name
- Cygnus cygnus
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Anseriformes › Anatidae › Cygnus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Freshwater marshes, shallow lakes, and coastal lagoons.
- Diet
- Aquatic plants, roots, tubers, and occasionally agricultural grains or grasses.
- Range
- Northern Europe, Northern Asia, United Kingdom, Japan, China
- Size
- Length 140-160 cm; Wingspan 205-235 cm; Weight 7-12 kg.
- Lifespan
- 9 to 20 years in the wild.
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Wetland drainage, lead poisoning from fishing weights, and power line collisions.
- Safe to approach?
- Generally defensive during nesting. Keep a safe distance of at least 20 meters; they may hiss or wing-slap if threatened. If bitten, wash the area thoroughly with soap and water.
The whooper swan ( Cygnus cygnus ), pronounced hooper swan , is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type species for the Cygnus genus. Francis Willughby and John Ray’s Ornithology of 1676 referred to this swan as “the Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan”.:23 The scientific name is from cygnus , the Latin for “swan”.
Photo: Austin 0201, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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