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

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

The trumpeter swan has a small, flap-covered hole on its neck to drain saliva.

From Washington Post • Aug. 16, 2018

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

From Slate • Aug. 17, 2016

Common tern, knot, American white pelican, Hudsonian godwit, trumpeter swan, long-billed curlew, snowy heron, Hudsonian curlew, American avocet, prairie sharp-tailed grouse, dowitcher, passenger pigeon.

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