Summary: Uncommon Spring and Fall migrant. Formerly Rare Winter resident, now Uncommon or possibly Fairly Common Winter residents. Most likely to be found on the road system at Starrigavan, Swan Lake, Indian River, or Herring Cove.

	Spring	Summer	Fall	Winter
Sitka Road System	Uncommon	Accidental	Uncommon	Uncommon
Sitka Area*	Uncommon		Uncommon	Fairly Common
*Unless otherwise noted, occurrence in the Sitka Area is unknown or presumed similar to that on the road system

Typical Spring Departure: Late March or early April
Typical Spring Migration: Late March and early April
Typical Fall Arrival: Winter residents appear to show up in late November or early December.
Typical Fall Migration: Last week of October through mid-December.

Based on past reports, it appears that Trumpeter Swans are being seen more frequently and in greater numbers throughout the winter. In recent years, birds have been reported in winter months at Swan Lake, Thimbleberry Lake, Baranof Warm Springs, Fish Bay, Silver Bay, and Starrigavan Bay. Some wintering swans seem to stay in a single location, while others move between salt water and freshwater or split their time between more than one bay.

J Dan Webster
Sparse winter visitant and with one summer record. The only swan records attributed to this species were recent: Recorded on 10 of the 28 Christmas counts. C. Johnstone saw and heard a flock of 23 near Goddard 25 September 1981. Hanson in 1985 saw and heard 18 near Goddard (<<) 26 March and one on Swan Lake 13 May. Gordon saw one on the west coast of Chichagof Island 2-7 July 1969. At Starrigavan Creek in 1974, Robert Ritchie saw two 25 January and C. Johnston saw and heard one 1, 15, 20, 26, and 27 April (Kessel and Gibson MS). Ward (Tobish 1994) saw three December 5 through 19, 1993. Ward and Marlys Tedin (Tobish 1999) saw 10 December 1,1998 and 21 from 17 December 2000 to the end of that year.

My Comments
The most interesting sighting I have had so far of Trumpeter Swans came on Christmas bird count mid December 2006. I was up near the treeline on Mt. Verstovia and saw a flock of 7 Trumpeter Swans flying at eye level. It seemed a little strange to include swans on my list for the day when my route took me nowhere near their typical habitat. I was told later that someone thought this was a group of swans that split its time between Katlian Bay and Salmon Lake.

Observation Notes
December 2007 - April 2008: Swans wintered at Starrigavan Estuary. There was onne adult mortality, but three more swans showed up in late March.
24 October 2007: morning report of 70 swans flying circles over Eastern Channel before flying south over the mountains. Presumed to have spent night. (Andrew Thoms via Sitka Birds e-mail list)
November 2005 - February 2006: By 26 November an adult and juvenile showed up at Swan Lake. The adult had a red collar marked F42 and had been collared in Washington State. The juvenile did not survive the winter and the adult was shot in mid-February.
1970s: Kent Bovee recalls there being a group of swans that wintered at Salmon Lake throughout the 70s.