Tundra swans arrival marks change of seasons in the Bitterroot Valley
As the first cold snap hit the valley floor with over a foot of snow falling in the Bitterroot in late October, several other of nature’s seasonal indicators were also occurring.
Yellow, orange, and red leaves were falling to the ground. Snow geese could be heard migrating, and here at Teller, the arrival of tundra swans signaled that the fall bird migration was well underway. Winter will soon arrive.
With many of Teller’s wetlands frozen solid, it was a few warm water spring-fed sloughs that a dozen or more tundra swans settled in on, foraging on several species of aquatic plants. While wetlands on Teller have attracted their larger cousin, the trumpeter swan, in the past, this time the slightly smaller tundra swan dominated the slough, sharing the open water with mallards, widgeon, green-wing teal, and American coots.