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Tundra Swan : Tundra Swan Qugyuk They're memories now, but some of the best ones of birds I ever had in the Lower Yukon Delta were of watching Tundra swans. Once during the fall near Scammon Bay I remember sneaking up on a lake full of these beautiful waterfowl early in the morning to take their pictures. Then I counted more than a hundred of them floating majestically on the water. Another time while visiting some friends in Black River on the Bering Sea coast I watched in awe as a skein of 50 of the stately birds flew close overhead, their white feathers luminously reflecting the rays of the late afternoon sun. And yet, everytime I marvelled at these birds I realized they served as an important food supply for the people of the Delta, who call the species Qugyuk or Qugsuk, depending on whether you're from Hooper Bay or the Lower Yukon, respectively. On so many occasions while walking in the tundra and in the village I encountered men returning from a hunt with two or three dead swans hanging around their necks. That night their womenfolk would pluck them and freeze them for later use as a most delectable dinner meal. Everyone jokingly referred to them as "1000 dollar dinners," because that was the cost of the fine in those days if hunters were caught in the act. In any case, I prefer to see this wondrous bird alive, for I regard it as one of the most handsome large birds on the North American continent. So, let me tell you about live swans before you take aim and fire. Lewis and Clark were the first white men to discover and scientifically describe this swan. They dubbed it Olor columbianus because they first encountered it on the Columbia River. Olor simply means swan in Latin. Lewis and Clark also gave it its original common name of "whistling" because they thought it made a "kind of whistling sound." It was recently renamed because nobody since Lewis and Clark has heard that whistling sound made by adult birds. The Yupik names more accurately represent at least some of its calls, which one author describes as, "loud, melodious, high-pitched,. ..like distant baying of hounds, but also more like soft, musical laughter .... " Its new common name describes its nesting preference, in the subarctic or arctic tundra. Speaking of which, Tundra swans are usually on their nesting grounds in the Delta by May. It's then that the male selects the actual nest site and the mating game begins. Since swans have already formed their sometimes lifelong pair bond by the previous autumn, they very soon get down to the business of having a family. Before the final act, however, there is first some ritual. With his neck lifted in an arch and wings proudly outstretched, the male does a high-stepping walk in front of his mate. Both sexes bow to each other during this display and constantly call back and forth. As the summer season is short in the Delta, courtship doesn't last long and the pair quickly consummate their bond. Not, however, until they've finished building their nest, which is usually a large mound of mosses, dried grasses and sedges on a small island in a shallow tundra pond. The female lays 4-5 creamy-white eggs in this ample nest and, while the male stands guard, she incubates them for about 35 days. Within two days after hatching, the pure white downy chicks, called cignets, leave the nest, and their parents lead them to water where they will be taught to feed on small thin-shelled mollusks as well as aquatic plants, grasses and sedges. When their necks are long enough they will imitate their parents and vigorously dig and root underwater at the bottom of their home ponds for these foods. As a result of this dabbling, their head and neck feathers will develop a tint of rust on them. If all goes well, after 60-70 days of fattening and fledging, the cignets will try their first flight, which is no easy matter for a bird that can weigh as much as 18 pounds. To finally become airborne, they must run on the surface of the water into the wind for up to 20 feet. Non too soon, because by now winter is fast approaching and most other birds have either already left or are preparing to leave for warmer climes. It won't be until mid-October, though, that the young swans will be ready to fly south with their parents. Meanwhile, they must eat hearty and practice flying in formation with the adults who now have a new suit of feathers as a result of their molt. This complete change of flight feathers began about the same time they first led their hatchlings away from the nest and down to the water's edge. Sometime towards the end of October, just before freeze-up, the Tundra swans of the Y-K Delta begin their long migration south to California. On a clear crisp autumn day while picking cranberries near Marshall, I remember hearing the adult swans, high-pitched laughing barks as they led their young through the shortcut by Pilcher Mountain on their way up the Yukon River. They were flying high, long necks outstretched, in V-shaped wedges, and I waved at them as they went over. They were the last large waterfowl to migrate, and I knew winter would be close behind. You've heard the expression, "singing his swan song." According to many who have heard this most beautiful of waterfowl utterances, it is actually the departure song of the Tundra swan as it takes flight from a lake. It is described as "a melodious, soft, muted series of notes that always precedes its takeoff into the air," and as "the swan song of legend, for when a swan is shot and falls crippled to the water, it utters this call as it tries in vain to rejoin its fellows in the sky." I imagine many hunters in the Delta have heard this "swan song." » List of Yupik Birds

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