Neibauer Marsh is a large pond situated in a cornfield on the outskirts of Guelph.  Being a relatively shallow, stagnant body of water, it can be late to thaw in the spring, but once it opens up it attracts large numbers of migrant waterfowl.  We had enough warm weather this past March to see the ice disappear by the middle of the month, and so Neibauer was able to entice a passing flock of Tundra Swans to rest there awhile and fuel up for their continued journey north.

My lifer Tundra was seen at Neibauer three years ago, only a few days after I had just purchased my first spotting scope.  I couldn’t get enough of these big, elegant birds with their mellow calls, and at dusk I would often park at the roadside with the windows rolled down and listen to them as the sun sank.  For several weeks they remained in the marsh, spreading out into the surrounding fields during the day to feed, and returning to the pond in the evenings for a little socializing before nightfall.

This year the marsh was host to about sixty swans, who hung around for a week or two before pressing on to their breeding grounds.  I stopped by the marsh at the end of last week to find that they had all departed — save two individuals wading in the shallows by the eastern shore.  One of the birds sported a yellow plastic wing tag, and a look through the bins confirmed my suspicions: these two were Trumpeter Swans, larger relatives of the Tundras that had been extirpated from eastern Canada two centuries ago.  Recent decades have seen the species successfully reintroduced, and they are now a relatively common sight here in the Great Lakes region.  Trumpeters, although they look very similar to Tundras, can be distinguished by their heavily sloped foreheads and loud, trumpeting calls.  A closer look may reveal more subtle field marks: a line of pink is sometimes visible along the edge of the mandible, and Trumpeters lack the yellow lores found on most adult Tundras.  Identifying them at any distance can be a challenge, and you can find a more in-depth discussion on the Sibley Guides site.