Cygnus cygnus
Silhouette: Andrew Cho · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The whooper swan (/ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/ "hooper swan"; Cygnus cygnus), is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan. Francis Willughby and John Ray's Ornithology of 1676 referred to this swan as "the Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan". It was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in the 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Anas cygnus. The species name is from cygnus, the Latin for "swan", and the type species for the genus Cygnus. This swan is monotypic with no subspecies.
The old name 'elk', which is not related to the deer species of the same name, derives from Old Norse elft, and also survives in modern Icelandic name for the species álft; it is cognate with the Latin albus, 'white'. The whooper swan is similar in appearance to Bewick's swan. It is larger, however, at a length of 140–165 centimetres (55–65 inches) and a wingspan of 205–275 cm (81–108 in), similar in size to the mute swan. The weight is typically in the range of 7.4–14.0 kilograms (16+1⁄4–30+3⁄4 pounds), with an average of 9.8–11.4 kg (21+1⁄2–25+1⁄4 lb) for males... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vatnajokull National Park | 🇮🇸 Iceland | |
| 2 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 4 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 5 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Whooper Swan sighting in Busan on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 63rd most-seen of the 112 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Whooper Swan in Busan on a given day, against under 5% in February–October and December, the lowest months. That is one of Busan's driest months, with about 40 mm of rain against 290 mm in July.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Whooper Swan sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 18
Of the 18 cities where we can rate Whooper Swan sightings, Busan ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Helsinki (Finland, about 30%) and Daegu (South Korea, about 10%).
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Whooper Swan that you can see in Busan (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Eastern Spot-billed Duck (about 20%), Mallard (about 20%) and Eurasian Teal (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Whooper Swan is recorded against all the birds logged in Busan (17 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
