Grand Traverse Bay Tundra Swans - 06 Feb 2026
Robin and I were back at the Delamar Hotel in Traverse City, and our 4th floor room (411) overlooked the frozen Grand Traverse Bay. However, a spit of open water near the Boardman River mouth was packed with swans, gulls and ducks. I set up the scope in the window and scanned the 300+ Mallard and dozens of Mute Swans for anything unique. I was happy to find small rafts of Common Goldeneye, Redhead, Common Merganser, Greater Scaup , and Bufflehead . I was also surprised to see a number of black-billed swans, both Trumpeter (expected) and Tundra (rare) Swans ! I decided to digiscope them from our 4th floor room to see if I could differentiate them. Despite the gusting (30-35mph) winds coming off the bay I got some diagnostic pics. The Trumpeter Swans showed thinner necks, larger bodies, and black bills that lacked the yellow "tear-drop". The Tundra Swans (8 of them) were smaller than the nearby Mute Swans, had the diagnostic yellow tear-drop under the eye, and the black b...
