[Whooper Swan]

Cygnus cygnus

Status: No accepted records

Taxonomy: No subspecies are recognized (AviList 2025).

Whooper Swan is closely related to Trumpeter Swan (Carboneras and Kirwin 2020).

Comments: There are two reports of presumed escapees or releases:

19 Dec 2023 Two Rivers SRA, Douglas Co (Elizabeth Winter, eBird.org; Brogie 2024)

6 Mar 2022 Yutan, Douglas Co (Linette Bolin Nelson fide Thane Dinsdale).

This species is often reported in the central and eastern US where it is generally considered escaped or released, as in Nebraska (eBird.org, accessed Mar 2024). Wild birds occur in small numbers in winter on the Aleutian Islands and Pribilof Islands (Carboneras and Kirwin 2020), and there are at least 10 records of presumed wild birds (as well as non-wild birds) for Pacific Coast states from British Columbia south to California, as well as single records of presumed wild birds for Idaho and Wyoming (eBird.org, accessed Mar 2024).

Images

Literature Cited

AviList Core Team, 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025.

Brogie, M.A. 2024. 2023 (35th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 92: 132-138.

Carboneras, C., and G.M. Kirwan. 2020. Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whoswa.01.

Recommended Citation

Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2025. Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org

Birds of Nebraska – Online

Updated 4 Jul 2025