Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 12:20:20 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul O'Brien Subject: Schoolhouse Pond "Whooper" Swan MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ospreyers, Having been confined to quarters recently, I have not had an opportunity to drive to Upper Marlboro to see the swan. However, in this past Thursday's Washington Post, there was an article about it in the Montgomery Co. section, including a photograph. The swan in the photo is most certainly NOT a Whooper Swan. It does not have the V-shaped juncture of the forehead and upper mandible typical of Trumpeter/Whooper. The extent of yellow on the bill is far less than on a Whooper. In fact, the two patches should essentially meet on the culmen and there should be a peninsula of yellow passing below the nares along the edge of the bill. In profile, a Whooper appears to have a yellow bill with a black tip. The bird in the photo comes nowhere near that appearance. In fact, the yellow patch is probably too small even for a Bewick's Swan, and may simply represent an extreme of variation in Tundra Swan. If I can get out of the house, I'll try to make it over to Schoolhouse Pond to see if there is a swan that looks like the Whoopers I saw on Attu. Paul O'Brien Rockville, Mont. Co. pobrien776@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================