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30 Nov 1991 at White Lake, Lower Klamath NWR, SIS |
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30 Nov 1991 at White Lake, Lower Klamath NWR, SIS |
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The TRUMPETER SWAN is a rare vagrant to California, but a very few may occur almost annually in flocks of Tundra Swan in the Klamath Basin or the Central Valley in winter. We presume most are not discovered due to identification problems. Most records are concentrated in the northeast but there are coastal records south to Los Angeles County.
All of my California records are listed below. Those preceded by H were found or co-found by me personally; those preceded by K receive some partial credit (e.g., I was involved in sorting out i.d. of a previously discovered bird or refound a vagrant that had been thought to have left).
These are my personal TRUMPETER SWAN records:
1/5/74 Legg Lake, El Monte LA an adult: this was a stake-out that I went down to see with Van Remsen, Joe Morlan and othersSee the family page for county abbreviations. All photos & text © 2003 Don Roberson; all rights reserved.
H 11/30/91 White Lake, Lower Klamath NWR, SIS Two adults; full details in my notes but I reproduce a field sketch and show a distant photo (above). These birds were discovered while watching a Whooper Swan that we had chased, and were a new find. While we watched in the frosty morning, they began courting: calling back and forth in deep trumpeter hoots and bobbing their heads. The pace accelerated until they flew off in tandem, calling together. This was a thrilling discovery!