 Breeding evidence |
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Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
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Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
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6.49 (2.57 - 10.4)|
Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
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Atlas Results
Trumpeter Swans were encountered during the breeding season in 33 squares, 13 of which were probable or confirmed breeding observations. Trumpeter Swans were primarily detected across the southern portion of the boreal forest with hotspots in the Porcupine Forest and in the vicinity of Prince Albert National Park, the latter result probably a product of increased sampling effort by park visitors and cabin owners. Near Regina, breeding was confirmed at the Strawberry Lakes in 2017 and 2021, and pairs seen in 2018 and 2019. A few scattered records of possible and probable breeding were made in the boreal and taiga shield, including a pair on Hasbala Lake in the northeast corner of the province.
Note: During all years of the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas drought conditions persisted and the Atlas range maps for all waterfowl, waterbirds, and wetland-associated species should be viewed as characteristic of distribution and abundance during dry conditions. Read the full drought statement here.
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
The Trumpeter Swan was brought to near extinction throughout North America at the turn of the 20th century, when conservation was neither practiced nor understood. The Trumpeter Swan is often confused with the much more common Tundra Swan (C. columbianus) seen in Saskatchewan during spring and fall migration to and from nesting grounds along the Arctic coast. Winters along the Pacific Coast in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.
Greenwater Lake Provincial Park and the adjacent Porcupine Provincial Forest, extending east of Hwy 9, consist of mixed forest dominated by aspen and a lesser amount of white spruce. The area includes many small lakes and ponds, some maintained by beaver dams. The swans eat aquatic vegetation, including cattail roots, which they pull from the bottom of the ponds. Nests are located in isolated areas where there is no human disturbance that might cause nest abandonment.
Trumpeters were reduced to such an extent that in 1933 only 77 were counted in Canada and 50 in the US (Yellowstone and Red Rock Lakes) (Banko 1960). Beginning in 1986 breeding Trumpeters were documented in east-central Saskatchewan for the first time in over a century. Ground and aerial surveys in Saskatchewan have documented an expansion from a few pairs in the late 1980s to an observed population of 78 swans (53 adults including 9 pairs with 25 cygnets) in 2005 (Beyersbergen 2007).
Original text by Rhys Beaulieu. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Trumpeter Swan in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Trumpeter Swan in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=TRUS&lang=en [09 Nov 2025]
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