Austria (NB), Azerbaijan (NB), Belgium (NB), Bulgaria (NB), Canada (B) (NB) (P), China (mainland), Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska), Cuba, Czech Republic (NB), Denmark (NB) (P), Estonia (NB) (P), Finland (P), France (NB) (P), Germany (NB) (P), Greece (NB), Greenland (B), Hungary (NB), Iceland, India, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (NB), Iraq (NB), Ireland (NB), Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia (NB) (P), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lithuania (B) (NB) (P), Luxembourg, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (NB), Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands (NB), North Korea, Norway (NB), Oman, Pakistan, Poland (NB) (P), Puerto Rico, Romania (NB), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B) (P), Russia (European) (B) (NB) (P), Serbia, Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (NB), Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden (NB) (P), Switzerland (NB), Taiwan (China), Turkey (NB), Turkmenistan, Ukraine (NB), United Kingdom (NB), USA (B).
Vagrant to Algeria, Antigua And Barbuda, Belarus, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Guam, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Northern Mariana Islands, Portugal, Spain (NB), St Pierre and Miquelon (P), United Arab Emirates, Virgin Islands (U.S.).
Population
Estimated population is 300,000 (2010).
Status LC
Degradation and loss of wetland habitats due to drainage, petroleum pollution, peat-extraction, changing wetland management practices, the burning and mowing of reeds and eutrophication are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Food
Herbivorous. Seeds, fruits, leaves, roots, rhizomes and stems of aquatic plants, grasses, sedges, reeds and herbaceous tundra vegetation. During the winter also agricultural grain and vegetables, and may also take estuarine invertebrates such as molluscs, amphipods and polycheate worms on tidal mudflats prior to migration.
Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus) [XC639498]
by Bram Vogels from Landsort, Nyn\u00e4shamn Municipality, Stockholms l\u00e4n, Sweden (nocturnal flight call)
Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus) [XC164591]
by Frank Lambert from Tuula, Saue Parish, Harju County, Estonia (call)
Nest
A large mound composed of plant matter, positioned on elevated ground such as a ridge or hummock, often at some distance from feeding pools to reduce to the risk of flooding. Many pairs nest close together in optimum habitats but it is generally not colonial.
Subspecies
Population of north-eastern Asia has been assigned separate subspecies jankowskii, though doubtfully valid.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
bewickii Yarrell, 1830 - Kola Peninsula eastern throughout arctic northern Siberia. Winters in western Europe, south of Caspian Sea and eastern China, Korea and Japan. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Bewick's Swan (Cygnus bewickii).
columbianus (Ord, 1815) - Tundra of Arctic North America. Winters in western and coastal eastern USA.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet