Ron Wilson shares this tranquil image of a swan paddling in the marsh near Oasis.
About the Trumpeter Swan, or Cygnus buccinator
The Trumpeter Swan is recognizable by its large size, all-white plumage, and characteristic ‘trumpeting’ call.
Trumpeter Swans breed widely throughout western North America in three discrete populations: the Pacific Coast, Rocky Mountain and Interior populations.
The Rocky Mountain and Pacific populations breed in British Columbia.
Although it was formerly abundant and geographically widespread, its numbers and distribution were greatly reduced through hunting by settlers for their own use and for the swan skin trade.
Only 69 individuals were known to exist in 1935, although unrecorded flocks also inhabited parts of Alaska and Canada.
Its recovery has been a conservation success story, as it has continued to increase and expand its range since the first range-wide survey in 1968.
- from BirdAtlas.bc.ca