The Tundra Swan is the most abundant and widespread of the two swan species native to the continent (the Mute Swan being an introduced species). Tundra Swans are managed as two distinct populations: the Eastern population and the Western population, primarily based on affiliations for each population with the major traditional wintering areas, along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Numbers for the Eastern population appear to have increased slightly over the last decade, while the population of the Western population appears stable. Historically, the Eastern population has been slightly larger in size than the Western population: the population sizes have averaged 100,000 and 85,000 swans, respectively, in the last decade. The hunting of Tundra Swans is legal but regulated in the United States and prohibited in Canada. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.
Tundra Swan populations have been relatively stable in the past decade and have remained near or above their population objectives. However, management plans for both populations establish the need to collect more information, such as improving the Mid-Winter Waterfowl Survey to obtain better counts, developing breeding ground surveys to estimate breeding populations and trends, identifying and protecting of breeding, staging and wintering habitats, and gathering more information on the Aboriginal harvest to better estimate the total harvest.
Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:
Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.
