Tundra Swan

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Each map is a visual guide to where a particular bird species may find the climate conditions it needs to survive in the future. We call this the bird’s “climatic range.”

The colors indicate the season in which the bird may find suitable conditions— blue for winter, yellow for summer (breeding), and green for where they overlap (indicating their presence year-round).

The darker the shaded area, the more likely it is the bird species will find suitable climate conditions to survive there.

 

The outline of the approximate current range for each season remains fixed in each frame, allowing you to compare how the range will expand, contract, or shift in the future.

 

The first frame of the animation shows where the bird can find a suitable climate today (based on data from 2000). The next three frames predict where this bird’s suitable climate may shift in the future—one frame each for 2020, 2050, and 2080.

You can play or pause the animation with the orange button in the lower left, or select an individual frame to study by clicking on its year.

Climate Endangered

Tundra Swan

The darker the color, the more favorable the climate conditions are for survival. The outlined areas represent approximate current range for each season. More on reading these maps.

The darker the color, the more favorable the climate conditions are for survival. The outlined areas represent approximate current range for each season.

More on reading these maps.
Winter
Summer

Winter Range
Summer Range
Both Seasons
Zoom InOut
Focal Species
Dominic Sherony/Flickr Creative Commons
Cool Facts

Like most other swans, ducks, and geese, it molts all the flight feathers of its wings at the same time, becoming flightless for a period of a few weeks.

Obsessive preener and bather.

A subspecies of the Tundra Swan lives in Europe and Asia.


This stately swan breeds in the boreal ponds of the far north, wintering on both coasts. Audubon's climate model projects a 61 percent loss of current winter range by 2080, with a limited potential for expansion in that season. The arctic summer range is also forecast to contract, raising questions about how this migratory bird will adjust to the disruption in both seasons.

Species Range Change from 2000 to 2080

The size of the circles roughly indicates the species’ range size in 2000 (left) and 2080 (right).

The amount of overlap between the 2000 circle and the 2080 circle indicates how stable the range will be geographically. Lots of overlap means the bird’s range doesn’t shift much. No overlap means the species will leave its current range entirely.

About This Bird

Every spring this majestic water bird travels from extensive marshes of the far West and the Atlantic Coast of the United States to the far northern reaches of North America to breed. The adult Tundra Swan migrates with its young from breeding grounds to wintering grounds, sticking together until it returns to its breeding grounds the next year. With black bills and feet and snowy white feathers, this dichromatic beauty is often confused with the Trumpeter Swan, with which it overlaps in some parts of its range. It primarily eats seeds, stems, roots, and tubers of aquatic plants found around the lakes near which it lives, occasionally dining on mollusks.

Cool Facts

Like most other swans, ducks, and geese, it molts all the flight feathers of its wings at the same time, becoming flightless for a period of a few weeks.

Obsessive preener and bather.

A subspecies of the Tundra Swan lives in Europe and Asia.


Birds at Risk

Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.

Allen's Hummingbird
Baird's Sparrow
Bald Eagle
Brown Pelican
Burrowing Owl
Cerulean Warbler
Common Loon
Eastern Whip-poor-will
Golden Eagle
Greater Sage-Grouse
Hooded Oriole
Mississippi Kite
Northern Shoveler
Osprey
Piping Plover
Ruffed Grouse
Rufous Hummingbird
Spotted Owl
Tundra Swan
White-throated Sparrow
Yellow-billed Magpie

You Can Help

It's easier than you think to make a difference. Become an Audubon member today to help birds facing climate change.

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Share this urgent message with your friends and family. Tell them why these at-risk birds are so important to you, and ask them to pledge to do their part, too.

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