Tundra swan
Cygnus columbianus (Ord, 1815)
The tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus), also called Bewick's swan or whistling swan, is a bird in the waterfowl family Anatidae, order Anseriformes. It is a medium-sized, migratory, aquatic herbivore of wetland habitats, with an adult body mass of 6.4 kg and a wingspan of 1.98 m.
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Quick facts about the tundra swan
It lays 4 eggs per clutch, one clutch per year, and reaches sexual maturity at 2.4 years. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 6.1 kg – 7.26 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- 1.15 m – 1.5 msrc for Length
- Wingspan
- 1.98 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 22.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 24.1 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 173 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2 years – 2.74 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the tundra swan?
Photos of the tundra swan
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the tundra swan live?
Not recorded
What is the tundra swan?
The tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus) is a species of swan which breeds in the arctic, and overwinters in North America, Europe, and Asia. It is the smallest of the Holarctic swans, at 115–150 cm (45–59 in) in length, 168–211 cm (66–83 in) in wingspan and 3.4–9.6 kg (7.5–21.2 lb) in weight. Typically, the plumage of adults is entirely white, with solid black feet, a black beak that has varying amounts of yellow, and a thin streak of pink along the mouthline, although colour variation is common.
In the summer, they mainly eat aquatic vegetation, while at other times of year they often eat leftover crops, such as potatoes. They have few natural predators, although sometimes Arctic foxes, parasitic jaegers, and glaucous gulls will prey upon their eggs and chicks. Their main cause of death is poaching. During the breeding season, tundra swans become aggressive, and may attack passing animals and other tundra swans; outside of the breeding season, they can form groups. They make a high-pitched honk, similar to a black goose.
Tundra swans live for an average of 10 years in the wild. They mate in spring, and are monogamous, mating for life. In May, they build a nest beside water using plant material, and lay 2–7 eggs, which incubate for about 30 days. The young fledge quickly after 60–75 days, twice as fast as the young of mute swans. They remain with their parents for their first winter migration. Sometimes, in their winter grounds, the families are joined offspring from previous breeding seasons.
From the Wikipedia article “Tundra swan” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tundra_swan&oldid=1381551862), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the tundra swan endangered?
The tundra swan is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the tundra swan classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAnseriformes
- familyAnatidae
- genusCygnus
- SpeciesCygnus columbianus (Ord, 1815)
Synonyms Anas columbianus, Cygnus clangor, Cygnus colombianus, Cygnus minor, Olor columbianus
Other names and names in other languages (89)
- Bewic's swanEnglish
- Bewick's swanEnglish
- Bewick's swanEnglish
- Whistling swanEnglish
- Whistling swanEnglish
- تم التندراArabic
- CisnetAragonese
- CisneAsturian
- cisne pequeñuAsturian
- Kiçik qu quşuAzerbaijani
- Лебедзь малыBelarusian
- Малы лебедзьBelarusian
- Малък лебедBulgarian
- Тундров лебедBulgarian
- Alarc'h BewickBreton
- Alarc'h c'hwitellBreton
- An alarc'h BewickBreton
- cigne petitCatalan
- Alarch y TwndraWelsh
- pibesvaneDanish
- TundrasvaneDanish
- PfeifschwanGerman
- ZwergschwanGerman
- ΝανόκυκνοςGreek
- nana cignoEsperanto
- Malgranda cignoEsperanto
- Cisne chicoSpanish
- Cisne de tundraSpanish
- Cisne silbadorSpanish
- qugsukCentral Yupik
- qugyukCentral Yupik
- väikeluikEstonian
- VileluikEstonian
- قوی کوچکPersian
- pikkujoutsenFinnish
- SmáoknFaroese
- Cygne siffleurFrench
- Cygne de BewickFrench
- Eala BewickIrish
- Eala thundraIrish
- Eala BheagScottish Gaelic
- eala BhewickScottish Gaelic
- Ollay hundreyScottish Gaelic
- Cisne pequenoGalician
- ברבור קטןHebrew
- ברבור הטונדרהHebrew
- ברבור טונדרהHebrew
- kis hattyúHungarian
- Կարապ փոքրArmenian
- QujjukInuktitut
- DvergsvanurIcelandic
- BlístursvanurIcelandic
- Cigno minoreItalian
- コハクチョウJapanese
- Кіші аққуKazakh
- Тундра аққуыKazakh
- 고니Korean
- QussuaraqCornish
- mažoji gulbėLithuanian
- xʷčuƛ̕qidlut
- mazais gulbisLatvian
- мал лебедMacedonian
- dvergsvaneNorwegian Bokmål
- fluitzwaanDutch
- Kleine ZwaanDutch
- WaabiziiOjibwa
- łabędź czarnodziobyPolish
- Łabędź krótkodziobyPolish
- cisne-pequenoPortuguese
- Cign pitschenRomansh
- Lebădă micăRomanian
- американский лебедьRussian
- UhcanjukčaNorthern Sami
- DeagganjukcáNorthern Sami
- labuť maláSlovak
- labuť tundrováSlovak
- mali labodSlovenian
- Mjelma e vogëlAlbanian
- Mali labudSerbian
- Мали лабудSerbian
- mindre sångsvanSwedish
- kucuk kuguTurkish
- küçük kuğuTurkish
- Лебідь малийUkrainian
- Американський лебідьUkrainian
- Лебідь американськийUkrainian
- лебідь чорнодзьобийUkrainian
- 小天鵝Chinese
- 小天鹅Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the tundra swan
Other species in the same genus Cygnus.
Mute swan
Cygnus olor
Whooper swan
Cygnus cygnus
Black swan
Cygnus atratus
Black-necked swan
Cygnus melancoryphus
Trumpeter swan
Cygnus buccinator
CompareTundra swan vs Mute swanTundra swan vs Whooper swanTundra swan vs Black swanTundra swan vs Black-necked swan
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How heavy is a tundra swan?
An adult tundra swan weighs 6.4 kg, with reported values from 6.1 to 7.3 kg.
What is the wingspan of a tundra swan?
The tundra swan has a wingspan of 1.98 m.
What does the tundra swan eat?
The tundra swan is a herbivore.
Is the tundra swan endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a tundra swan live?
The tundra swan has a lifespan of 22.3 years, with values up to 24.1 years reported.
How many eggs does a tundra swan lay?
The tundra swan lays 4 eggs per clutch and has one clutch per year.
Does the tundra swan migrate?
Yes, the tundra swan is migratory.
Who named the tundra swan?
The tundra swan, Cygnus columbianus, was named by Ord in 1815.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/tundra-swan
“Tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/tundra-swan.
@misc{tundra_swan_2026,
title = {Tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/tundra-swan},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}