Tundra swan migration Cygnus columbianus
▶ Follow the tundra swan across the big globe
Press ▶ to play the year. Line: a simplified typical route, joining the main cluster of GBIF records in each month (adjusted for observer effort).
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| Scientific name | Cygnus columbianus |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 198 cm |
| Adult weight | 7.258 kg (male), 6.305 kg (female) |
| IUCN status | Least concern |
| Records mapped | 829,065 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | none with an open licence yet |
Facts from Wikidata Q26603 (CC0).
When does the tundra swan arrive in the UK?
A winter visitor in the records: numbers build from early November and stay high until about early March.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 12,294 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
When do they arrive in and leave the UK? →
Migration in the data
829,065 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In Europe and Africa, the centre of the records (adjusted for observer effort) is furthest north in August (about 70°N) and furthest south in December (about 48°N).
Month by month: centre of records in Europe and Africa
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 48°N | 0% |
| February | 49°N | 0% |
| March | 56°N | 0% |
| April | 59°N | 0% |
| May | 62°N | 0% |
| June | 68°N | 0% |
| July | 69°N | 0% |
| August | 70°N | 0% |
| September | 68°N | 0% |
| October | 56°N | 0% |
| November | 52°N | 0% |
| December | 48°N | 0% |
Tracked birds
No openly licensed (CC0 / CC BY) tracking data package for this species was found in the Movebank Data Repository yet, so only records are shown.
About the tundra swan
The tundra swan is a species of swan which breeds in the arctic, and overwinters in North America, Europe, and Asia. It is the smallest of the Holarctic swans, at 115–150 cm (45–59 in) in length, 168–211 cm (66–83 in) in wingspan and 3.4–9.6 kg (7.5–21.2 lb) in weight. …
From the Wikipedia article “Tundra swan” (revision 1381551862), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=2498338&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (23 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.