BirdBrain Academy

Waterfowl · Anatidae

Trumpeter Swan sounds

Cygnus buccinator

A North American swan, the Trumpeter Swan is the continent's heaviest native bird and the largest living waterfowl.

Learn bird sounds freeMore Trumpeter Swan recordings
Trumpeter Swan
Photo: Jakub Fryš, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Listen to the Trumpeter Swan

Each recording below is a short excerpt with its spectrogram, a picture of the sound. Time runs left to right and higher pitches sit higher up. Play each one, then look for the same shape in the next. Different recordings of the same bird help you learn the bird, not one clip.

Call · recording 1 Spectrogram of a Trumpeter Swan call: time runs left to right and pitch rises upward

Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma, Rapids Lake Unit, Minnesota Valley NWR, Carver County, Minnesota, 2018-05-05. XC413784 on xeno-canto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Five-second excerpt.

Call · recording 2 Spectrogram of a Trumpeter Swan call: time runs left to right and pitch rises upward

Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma, Minnesota Valley NWR, Old Cedar Ave Bridge, Hennepin, Minnesota, 2012-03-10. XC96531 on xeno-canto, CC BY-SA 3.0. Five-second excerpt.

Call · recording 3 Spectrogram of a Trumpeter Swan call: time runs left to right and pitch rises upward

Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma, Rapids Lake Unit, Minnesota Valley NWR, Carver County, Minnesota, 2018-05-05. XC413784 on xeno-canto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Five-second excerpt.

What to listen for

The Trumpeter Swan is loud and somewhat musical, with a cry that sounds similar to a trumpet. Its classic trumpet call can carry over long distances and is used in alarm, threat, courtship, and pair duets.

What it looks like

Adults are entirely white, with an upright posture, straight neck, and a large wedge-shaped black bill sometimes edged with salmon-pink near the mouth. Cygnets are light gray with pinkish legs, gaining white plumage after about a year.

Where to find it

The Trumpeter Swan breeds on large shallow ponds, undisturbed lakes, pristine wetlands, slow rivers, and marshes in northwestern and central North America. Pairs often mate for life, both parents help raise the young, and natural populations migrate in V-shaped flocks.

BirdBrain regions that include this bird

  • Alaska
  • California
  • Great Lakes
  • New England
  • Northwest
  • Plains
  • Southwest
  • Western Canada

Did you know?

  • By 1933, fewer than 70 wild individuals were known, before Alaska surveys found several thousand more.
  • The North American wild population was restored to over 46,000 birds by 2010.
  • The Trumpeter Swan has the largest bill of any waterfowl species in the world.

Learn the Trumpeter Swan by ear

BirdBrain Academy teaches bird sounds with side-by-side listening and quizzes that use different recordings, so you learn the bird rather than one clip. Start with six free lessons, no signup needed. On your phone, Sound ID can name the birds singing around you.

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Related birds

Species notes are adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and checked for BirdBrain. Recordings come from xeno-canto under the licenses shown with each one. Photo: Jakub Fryš, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Identification guidance is educational; birds vary, so confirm unusual sightings with local experts or eBird.