One of several controversies concerning North American Mute Swan populations involves the question of whether the species is native to the continent. Conventional wisdom in the ornithological community has it that the species was introduced to the continent by humans early in the 20th century. This idea has been questioned recently by some who claim that there is evidence supporting the idea that the species is native to North America.

Here I provide information from publications that address this issue, including some older publications that I have been told support the idea that the species is native to North America. Since some of these publications are not widely available I have, wherever possible, provided direct quotes from the original texts so that readers can make their own judgements about the material.

American Ornithologists’ Union Checklist (7^th edition, 1998) describes the species as: "Introduced and established in North America …." (p. 62).

Birds of North America account # 273 (Ciaranca et al. 1997) begins with the words: "An exotic (i.e., nonnative) species in North America ….." (p. 1).

As far as I am aware, there have been no publications in the ornithological literature supporting the idea that Mute Swans are native to North America. This idea, however, has been circulating (at least in Connecticut) among interested members of the public. The publications listed below are those that I have been told contain information supporting the notion. This may not be an exhaustive set of publications relating to the topic. If other evidence exists, please let me know (click here).

I have been told that this book provides evidence that Mute Swans occur in Kamchatka, which could conceivably have meant that Mute Swans periodically crossed the Bering Sea into North America. My reading of the book does not support either of these ideas. Even if Mute Swans did occur in Kamchatka, there is little reason to believe that they are native to North America, as there are many other species that occur in Kamchatka that do not normally cross the Bering Sea (e.g., Bean Goose, Falcated Teal, Common Pochard, and Smew – all extremely rare vagrants in North America.)

To view the text for yourself, click here.

Note that the "Checklist of the Birds of Kamchatka" by Yu. N. Gerasimov, Yu. B. Artukhin and E. G. Lobkov (1999; Kamchatka Academy of Science, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science) does not mention Mute Swan. Whooper Swan is listed as an uncommon breeding bird and Bewick's Swan is listed as a straggler. (Thanks to Bob Askins for pointing out this reference.)

I was told that this book provided fossil evidence that Mute Swans occurred in North America historically. It is clear, however, that Howard did not consider any of the fossil swan bones found at Fossil Lake to have come from Mute Swans (e.g., Mute Swan is not included in the list of species found at the site).

For a more thorough summary of the paper and to read extracts, click here

Again this book has been cited as somehow supporting the idea that Mute Swans are native to North America. The description of the species range map, however, reads: "At present, Denmark, central and southern Sweden, northern Germany, Poland, Rumania (Dobruja), central Russia (Crimea, Caspian Sea region), Asia Minor, Central Asia, east to Mongolia and Dauria. Migrant to south-eastern Europe and south-western Asia. Introduced long ago and semi-domesticated in many parts of western Europe, later on in eastern North America (Long Island), Australia, etc. Very common in a feral state in England, where they were probably natives long ago." (p. 63)

There then follows a discussion of evidence that Mute Swans were historically native to England, rather than introduced there. North America is not shown on the distribution map.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a copy of this book to see what it says. In another book ("A Puddling of Ducks" 1957. Harcourt Brace and Co.) Ripley states "The mute swan occurs wild in Eurasia, and there are perhaps six thousand feral (gone wild) mutes on the northeast coast of the United States." (p. 129) This quote suggests that Ripley did not consider the species to be native to the eastern U.S.