Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
he
sandhill crane
(Grus canadensis),
although similar to the heron, flies with its neck
outstretched. It is a duller shade of gray and a little smaller than the heron and has a red patch
over the eye. It hunts rodents, insects, and seeds in the meadows and has a bugling call.
Trumpeter swan and cygnets
The most regal of all Yellowstone's birds is the
trumpeter swan
(Cygnus buccinator).
Male
cobs may be 5 feet (1.5 m) long with a wingspan of 7 feet (2 m); the female pens are a little
smaller. These snow-white swans with coal-black bills dabble (that is, go bottom up) for aquat-
ic plants. Swans used to nest along the Madison River but now only at two lakes away from
the roads. Their number in the park is down to ten residents, although migrating swans spend
the winter here. Yet the Rocky Mountain population is stable, including at Red Rock Lakes
National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana, home to E. B. White's Louis, the remark-
able mute swan in the children's book
The Trumpet of the Swan.
A
LONG THE SHORES OF
Y
ELLOWSTONE
L
AKE
Pelican colony
