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Whooper swans migrating

 

 

 

Good sites for observations of the November migration are the Silma Nature Reserve, the Haapsalu Bay, Väike Väin, Matsalu and the coast at Häädemeeste. The autumn migrants are more than 7000 of Finland’s national bird.

 

These magnificent birds are quite often confused with the Bewick’s swan, smaller but very similar-looking, that arrives in Estonia later than the whooper swans: their breeding areas are simply farther in the north.

 

The whooper swan is bulkier, with a longer neck and a more yellow beak. Admittedly, only an experienced birder will be able to tell which is there when seeing a swan flock at a distance, and moreover they migrate and forage often together in mixed flocks.

 

More than 20 000 of Bewick’s swans migrate through Estonia in autumn and they can be seen in large numbers at the shores of Lake Peipus too.

 

Whooper swans and Bewick’s swans. Matsalu bay

 

Arne’s photo is good for comparing whooper and Bewick’s swans. The difference between the two birds at left is extremely small, isn’t it?

 

The story of Finland’s national bird during the last century:

 

In the North, swans were game birds and they were almost completely annihilated by the middle of last century – the number of breeding birds was estimated to only 150 whooper swan pairs in North Finland. In the 1950s, the general attitude of society was changed and whooper swans became protected. Slowly their numbers started to recover, reaching 1500 pairs in 1990, and this year about 7000 whooper swan pairs nested in the whole of Finland. The birds that were only encountered in the tundra areas in the old days now nest on the southern coast too.

 

Whooper swan observations: LINK