trumpeter swan

American  

noun

1. a large, pure-white, wild swan, Cygnus buccinator, of North America, having a sonorous cry: once near extinction, the species is now recovering.

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trumpeter swan British  

noun

1. a large swan, Cygnus buccinator , of W North America, having a white plumage and black bill

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Etymology

Origin of trumpeter swan

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

To me, the highlight was a pristine marsh brimming with relatively uncommon birds, including black terns, colorful redhead ducks, and a pair of trumpeter swan parents swimming alongside their fuzzy gray cygnet.

From Washington Post • Mar. 11, 2022

In 1998, 115 years after the last known trumpeter swans had occupied Iowa, three wild trumpeter swan cygnets hatched in Dubuque County.

From Washington Times • Feb. 22, 2020

John James Audubon, the famous naturalist, preferred trumpeter swan feather quills to any others, he said.

From New York Times • Apr. 9, 2019

At the best of times, Gord’s vibrato evokes something between a trumpeter swan and a rusty weathervane.

From Slate • Aug. 17, 2016

The whooping crane, the sage grouse, the trumpeter swan, the wild turkey, and the upland plover never will come back to us, and nothing that we can do ever will bring them back.

From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple