---
title: "Tundra Swan"
description: "Cygnus columbianus — Birds. The tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus) is a species of swan which breeds in the arctic, and overwinters in North America, Europe, and Asia."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/tundra-swan
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Tundra Swan

> Cygnus columbianus — Birds. The tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus) is a species of swan which breeds in the arctic, and overwinters in North America, Europe, and Asia.

- Scientific name: *Cygnus columbianus*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers), `arctic` (Arctic)
- iNaturalist observations: 22577
- Wikidata: [Q26603](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26603)
- iNaturalist taxon: [6917](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/6917)

## Names

- en: Tundra Swan
- de: Zwergschwan
- es: Cisne de tundra
- fr: Cygne siffleur
- nl: Fluitzwaan
- pt: Cisne-pequeno
- pl: Łabędź czarnodzioby

## Countries with the most observations

US (11161), CA (4168), RU (1978), CN (455), GB (367), FR (249), JP (232), NL (159), DE (142), UA (81), TW (75), DK (58)

## Summary

The tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus) is a species of swan which breeds in the arctic, and overwinters in North America, Europe, and Asia. It is the smallest of the Holarctic swans, at 115–150 cm (45–59 in) in length, 168–211 cm (66–83 in) in wingspan and 3.4–9.6 kg (7.5–21.2 lb) in weight. Typically, the plumage of adults is entirely white, with solid black feet, a black beak that has varying amounts of yellow, and a thin streak of pink along the mouthline, although colour variation is common.
In the summer, they mainly eat aquatic vegetation, while at other times of year they often eat leftover crops, such as potatoes…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra_swan

## Photo

![Tundra Swan](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/tundra-swan/medium.jpg)

Photo: Andy Wilson · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/6917

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/tundra-swan?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).