There are lots of both species that winter in the Skagit Valley. The Tundra
population that winters there generally shows more yellow on the base of the
bill than the western Oregon wintering birds. Steve Mlodinow and I found a
Bewick’s Tundra Swan in La Conner.
Have fun!
Dave Irons
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 7, 2018, at 7:50 PM, Lew & Marti Ligocki
<ligockibirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ligockibirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Thank you for sharing it. Lew and I are headed for the Skagit in a few weeks
and will keep your details in mind.
Marti Ligocki
From: David Irons
Sent: Sunday, January 7, 2018 7:43 PM
To: OBOL Oregon Birders Online
Subject: [obol] Swan ID: Some comments about a group of seven Trumpeter Swans
that appear to be wintering at Coffenbury Lake in Fort Stevens State Park
(Clatsop Co)
Greetings all,
While birding around Brownsmead this morning, Shawneen and I ran into Mike
Patterson, who as always provided a wealth of information about local birds of
interest. He told us about a group of seven Trumpeter Swans that have been at
Coffenbury Lake (in Fort Stevens State Park) for a few weeks. As Trumpeter Swan
would be a county bird for both of us, we decided to check them out in the
midst of our fruitless (and quite wet) search for White-winged Crossbills this
afternoon.
We had lengthy yet somewhat distant scope views of the swans from parking lot
at the south end of Coffenbury Lake, with the birds about halfway up the lake.
In looking at the adult birds, both Shawneen and I were struck by how "pinched"
the facial skin was right in front of the eye. I have always looked for a more
evenly tapered wedge of black facial skin meeting and to some degree enveloping
the eye. Although distant, these adult birds did not seem to have this expected
look. After studying the swans the best we could, Shawneen pulled up a number
of recent reports of these birds on eBird. Many of them include excellent
photos of both the adult and immature birds. These photos paint a slightly
ambiguous picture, with the facial skin looking very pinched and Tundra-like in
some of the photos and broader and more wedge-shaped (a Trumpeter
characteristic) in others. There is at least one photo that shows the white
feathering in the center of the forehead meeting in a decided point–another
good mark for Trumpeter. Finally, in all of the photos the upper ridge of the
bills of these birds is very straight with no concavity–again good for
Trumpeter. It should be noted that the young birds are darker than one would
expect for immature Tundras, another mark favoring Trumpeter.
After some initial confusion and extensive review of photos of these birds and
other Trumpeter and Tundra Swan photos online, we have comfortably concluded
that they are Trumpeters. I have perhaps been overvaluing the shape of the
facial skin where it meets the ID when sorting out Tundra and Trumpeter Swans.
Changes in photo angle no doubt affect how straight or convex the line of
demarcation is where the white feathering meets the skin at the base of the
bill.
It was an educational experience to be sure.
Dave Irons