Whooper Swan

How to recognise it

• White, with a bright yellow bill base, the bill tip and lower part black
• The yellow on the bill reaches below the nostril
• Usually a straight neck and a pointed head, the bill continuing from the sloping crown
• Young birds are greyish brown-white, and females are clearly smaller than males

Call and song

In flight it gives a loud, trumpeting call in groups of three or four notes, written as kloo-kloo-kloo. The wings make only a quiet swishing, unlike the loudly singing wingbeats of the Mute Swan.

Where and when

It is a partial migrant breeding throughout Sweden, with the largest populations in Norrbotten, Västerbotten and Gävleborg counties. Autumn migration to southern Sweden, Denmark and the North Sea countries starts in October, and spring migration north around the turn of February and March. Spring stopover sites include Hornborgasjön, Tysslingen, Väster-Färnebo and the Ume River delta. It is reported from all 21 counties, most in February, March, November and December.

Food and behaviour

It feeds on plants and plant parts, lately also on farmland like geese. Outside the breeding season it is sociable. Pairs form for life, and the nest is often very large and built mostly from plant material from the lake bottom. The female lays four to seven butter-coloured eggs. On migration it usually flies at 50 to 200 metres altitude at up to 100 km/h.