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 bill that did not form a "V" across the forehead.

We left the hotel to go to lunch, and on the way back I decided to walk down to the beach and digiscope the swans "sans windows". Unfortunately, the Trumpeter and Tundra Swans moved away from view and I was left battling the gusting winds and blowing snow to digiscope a few of the Greater Scaup swimming close to shore.

I'd get back in our room and find that the Trumpeter/Tundra Swans were sleeping on the ice edge farther out from shore with their heads tucked under their wings to avoid the blowing winds. I counted 18 birds that included a couple of Mute Swans.

Delamar Hotel, Traverse City, US-MI 44.76486, -85.61034, Grand Traverse, Michigan, US
Feb 6, 2026 9:12 AM - 9:57 AM
Protocol: Stationary
Checklist Comments:     Cloudy, gusting winds 30-35 mph off bay. Lake frozen except for strip of open water near Boardman River. Viewed from 4th floor of Delamar Hotel. 24F.
12 species (+1 other taxa)

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)  46
Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)  8
Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus)  8     Digiscoped from 4th floor of Delamar Hotel. 4+2+2 swans (smaller than Mutes) with yellow teardrops and black bills rounded across forehead (not V-shaped). Pics.
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  360     Exact count
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes)  4
Mallard/American Black Duck (Anas platyrhynchos/rubripes)  1
Redhead (Aythya americana)  3
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)  13
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  2
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)  12
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  6
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  46
American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus)  4

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S298451141

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)