NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Trumpeter Swan
Cygnus buccinator Richardson, 1831
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator), or simply the trumpeter, is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 304.8 cm (6 ft 2 in to 10 ft 2 in). It is the American counterpart and a close relative of the whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) of Eurasia and has even been considered the same species by some authorities. By 1933, fewer than 70 wild individuals were known to exist; extinction seemed imminent until aerial surveys discovered a Pacific population of several thousand trumpeter swans around Alaska's Copper River. Careful reintroductions by wildlife agencies and the Trumpeter Swan Society gradually restored the North American wild population to over 46,000 birds by 2010.
Wikipedia contributors, Trumpeter swan; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:08:09.976957+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Cygnus buccinator Richardson, 1831
- Name authority
- Richardson, 1831
- Common name
- Trumpeter Swan
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Anseriformes
- Family
- Anatidae
- Genus
- Cygnus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderAnseriformes
- familyAnatidae Leach, 1820
- genusCygnus Garsault, 1764
- speciesCygnus buccinator Richardson, 1831
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Cygnus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Tundra SwanCygnus columbianus (Ord, 1815) | AnatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Whooper SwanCygnus cygnus (Linnaeus, 1758) | AnatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-necked SwanCygnus melancoryphus (Molina, 1782) | AnatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black SwanCygnus atratus (Latham, 1790) | AnatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mute SwanCygnus olor (J. F. Gmelin, 1789) | AnatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Olor buccinator (Richardson, 1831) (Richardson, 1831) | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174992 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:32ZQ5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.