# Tundra Swan

*Cygnus columbianus*

Tundra Swans can fly at altitudes of up to 27,000 feet and reach flight speeds of over 50 miles per hour during migration.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Anseriformes › Anatidae › Cygnus
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** tundra
- **Habitat:** Arctic tundra wetlands during breeding season; lakes, slow-moving rivers, coastal bays, and agricultural fields during winter.
- **Diet:** Omnivorous, feeding primarily on aquatic plants, tubers, seeds, and agricultural waste grains, supplemented by small invertebrates.
- **Range:** North America, Arctic Tundra of Alaska and Canada, United States coastal wintering grounds, East Asia
- **Size:** Wingspan of 1.5 to 1.7 meters (5 to 5.5 feet); weight of 3.8 to 10.5 kg.
- **Lifespan:** 10 to 20 years in the wild
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Habitat loss in wintering wetlands, lead poisoning from ingested ammunition/sinkers, and climate change shifting arctic breeding zones.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless from a distance, but defensive during spring nesting. Maintain a safe distance of at least 50 meters. If approached, they may hiss, flap their powerful wings, or charge. If they show distress, back away slowly. Bites or wing-claps can cause minor bruising; wash any minor scratches with soap and water.

## About

The tundra swan ( Cygnus columbianus ) is a small Holarctic swan. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan ( Cygnus bewickii ) of the Palaearctic and the whistling swan ( C. columbianus ) proper of the Nearctic. Birds from eastern Russia (roughly east of the Taimyr Peninsula) are sometimes separated as the subspecies C. c. jankowskii , but this is not widely accepted as distinct, most authors including them...

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/fd05f2fa-de20-474e-9402-1b3670d6a6c5
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/6917
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus columbianus
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/183205026/medium.jpeg (Andy Wilson, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.