Trumpeter Swans at Green Pond! ~ March 10, 2026

At around 9:45, I got an excited call from Adam Miller asking if I was able to come to Green Pond with my camera. He had stopped there after work, so he didn't have his camera with him. He said he thought he might have two Trumpeter Swans in the Farmersville Road retention pond, across the road from Green Pond. I told him I could be there in about 15 minutes. I grabbed my gear and headed for Green Pond. After nervously waiting to get through a one-lane construction zone, I finally made it there. He was right. They were Trumpeter Swans, representing yet another 1st Northampton County record in just two days! It was also my 182nd species seen at Green Pond. The two birds were lazily moving around inside the pond as I started taking photos to document them. I got some excellent photos as other birders arrived to see them.

Trumpeter Swans

Here's a close-up of the bill showing the traits of a Trumpeter Swan and ruling out any chance of these birds being Tundra Swans.

The straighter-sloped bill of a Trumpeter Swan, wider at the eye with no yellow lores and an obvious reddish area showing at the gape.

This photo shows the 'V'-shape notches at the tops of their bills, whereas a Tundra Swan shows a more rounded base at the forehead.

A 'head-on' photo of the Trumpeter Swans showing the 'V'-shape notches at the tops of their bills.

They were unconcerned with our presence as they occasionally called to each other during the next two hours. Eventually, they just started running across the shallow pond, took off, and headed up over Green Pond, continuing out of sight to the northwest.

Trumpeter Swans taking off toward the northwest.

Despite checking all of the other flooded fields and retention ponds in that direction, the birds were never refound. While there, two Rusty Blackbirds were also present in the flooded field area. I got some poor photos of them before they took off over into the wooded patch near the intersection.

Rusty Blackbirds

Other birds found there included 80 Canada Geese, 3 Snow Geese, 13 Mallards, 3 American Black Ducks, a Northern Pintail, 2 Green-winged Teal, a Bufflehead, 4 Hoooded Mergansers, and 8 Common Grackles.

A quick stop at the Hollo Road pond only produced 2 Snow Geese among about 150 Canadas, an American Black Duck, a Green-winged Teal, and 3 Buffleheads.

I headed up to the Nazareth Quarry to see if the Common Teal that I found yesterday was still there. After some searching, I did refind it and got another poor, long-distance photo of it.

Common Teal

Other notables there included 4000 Snow Geese, 400 Canada Geese, a Cackling Goose, 8 Northern Shovelers, 3 Gadwall, 5 American Black Ducks, 13 Green-winged Teal, 16 Ring-necked Ducks, a Greater Scaup, 4 Lesser Scaup, 16 Buffleheads, 10 Common and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, around 40 Ruddy Ducks, 20 American Coots, 2 Pied-billed and 2 Horned Grebes, and 15 Ring-billed Gulls.

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