Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 12:48:24 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Rob (Robert) Hilton" Subject: Re: Schoolhouse Pond "Whooper" Swan In-Reply-To: <81.66e537e.27aee954@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello, I concur with Paul O'Brien's assessment. I viewed the bird at length on Jan. 14, but did not have the time to research the bird beyond the references in my library, but at the time thought that the bird was not a Whooper Swan. The recent European field guides (including the Mullarney/Svensson guide) in my library show that the yellow point on a Whooper Swan ends in line with the tip of the nostril. On this bird, which I viewed in January, the yellow point ends in line with the beginning of the nostril (from which it is separated by black skin). None of these books even hints that Whooper Swan has anything but all yellow across the entire base of the bill. Mullarney/Svensson (in my office) illustrate a Bewick's Swan with (seemingly) a little less yellow across the top of the bill-base, but that is obscured by the profile view of the bird. Between the eyes, the juncture of the bill and the feathering is straight across. It does not come to a point as on Trumpeter Swan (pers. obs. and illustration in Sibley) and Whooper Swan (suggested in Mullarney/Svensson and in Sibley). There was no yellow color around the eye, only in front of the eye. The Sibley guide illustrates yellow around the eye for both Bewick's and Whooper, and in front for Whistling. The size of the bird was not terribly bigger than either the Canada Geese or the Swan Geese (45" according to Sibley). While I don't know how big a Whooper Swan would appear next to these geese, this bird sure did not tower over them; it merely seemed to be longer. According to Sibley, Whistling Swan averages 52 inches, Trumpeter 60; as I remember my other sources at home, Whooper is a little smaller than Trumpeter and Bewick's is a little smaller than Whistling. I thought that the bill was disproportionately large for the head, however. The forehead merged with the bill in a long, even, smooth profile more characterstic of the two larger swans than of the the two smaller swans. Also, for a Whistling Swan, there seems to be a lot of yellow on the bill, more than Sibley illustrates for "maximum yellow". There was some yellow on the center of the underside of the bill, too. The bird is indeed unbanded (I watched it stand on the ice), and on Jan. 14 was accepting food along side of the Mallards present in the pond. I was (well) within 100 feet of it, and I was present for almost two hours Schoolhouse Pond studying the swan, the goose assortment, and the gulls. I wonder if it perhaps could be of hybrid origin. Best, Rob Hilton robert@csa.com Bethesda, Md. At 12:20 PM 2/4/01 EST, you wrote: >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 >======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================