Same size as Mute Swan. Adults pure white and juveniles greyish. The bill is black with a yellow wedge reaching well beneath the nostrils. Juveniles differs from Mute Swan in lacking black lores, and having a pink tinge to the grey bill.
Quite vocal. Trumpet-like clear honks of half a second length most frequent in flight and take-off/landing. Often voiced with a register break.
Contact call:
IUCN Redlist Map
Birdlife ecology
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
Sounds:Hannu Jännes,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Easily confused with Whooper Swan, but yellow on bill restricted to a rounded patch. May sometimes extend towards the bill-tip, but never beyond nostrils. Angle of mouth bold black. Gives a more compact impression than Whooper, due to shorter neck. Head shape noticeably more rounded, and seemingly larger. Juveniles paler grey than Whooper, with the same bill pattern as in adults, but in faint, pale yellow and pink. Flight easy and goose-like.
More vocal than other swans. Both higher pitched and deeper sounds. Birds on the water often gives crooning, crane-like notes with less defined pitch. Tone is less full-bodied in these calls. Flight call a deep, yelping, soft barking sound. Each call short, with a "helpless" quality.
Call:
IUCN Redlist Map
Birdlife ecology
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
