Date: 12/22/25 10:07 am From: Daniel Leger via groups.io <dleger1...> Subject: [NEBirds] Swans: Thoughts and a Question
I just returned home from viewing the family group of five Tundra Swans at Branched Oak Lake, a Lancaster County bird for me! Thanks to Tobin Brown for his initial report (one of many from him in Nebraska this year!) and to others who have reported details about them since then.
I want to comment a bit on the "other" swans at BOL, namely the group of 13 Trumpeter Swans. How quickly we forget that Trumpeters were once very scarce in Nebraska. It was not that long ago that I found a group of three or four at BOL on the CBC there. It was a county bird for me and for quite a few others who joined in the CBC that year. How nice it is to see so many of these beauties so close to home and to have them here nearly every year.
My question concerns how long the Tundras may have been at Branched Oak: I think they may have been there last weekend (Dec. 14), when we gathered for this year's installment of the Seward-BOL CBC. Our group was huddling early on the south side of the lake when a few of us noted about five large, white birds flying low along the opposite shore. I, and I think another birder, noted that two of them seemed to be smaller than the others. They disappeared from view, but we later found several swans gathered on the ice a little west of the original sighting. They were far off and we didn't have a scope, but we estimated there were about nine or 10 swans, two or three of which were grey.
Tom Labedz told me that after our CBC group dispersed a few hours later, he scoped a group of 12 swans, all of which were adult Trumpeters. I concluded that the size difference noted earlier was probably nothing of interest. However, since Tobin's initial observation I have been intrigued by the grey swans. So far, I haven't noticed anyone reporting immature Trumpeter Swans. Has anyone done that? If I'm right, the grey swans we saw on Dec. 14 may have been immature Tundras, and their parents overlooked (mis-identified) as being Trumpeters. This might have implications for the Seward-BOL CBC results.
Although both species have tended to use the same areas, they also segregate when possible. Dec. 14 was very cold and there was almost no open water on the lake. Several observers have noted that the Tundras are off by themselves while foraging (although sometimes in proximity to the Trumpeters) and when I saw them all this morning on the now-open water at BOL, the five were on their own, although not far from their bigger cousins. The Tundras this morning took flight, but the Trumpeters stayed behind.
Anyway, I just wanted to throw this out there for your consideration. Here's hoping that the Tundra Swan is on the same trajectory as the Trumpeters and that we might have them here more often!
