This young swan has been present now for at least a couple of weeks I think, maybe longer. This is the hardest age to ID with the most potential pitfalls between Tundra and Trumpeter. The initial ID by the first observer was Tundra. I spent about an hour this morning looking at it, and doing some digiscoping. It was back on Blair Lake today, at least 250-300 yards distant, but though it was gloomy today, no heat waves so great visibility at 60x thru my Kowa. I believe I had probably had a better look at the bird than Mark did a few days ago during his visit. Came back and got some better images the following day, bird was in same location but closer.

My initial ID was Trumpeter. The combination of obviously large, flat bill with a very Canvasback-like profile, still largely grayish back in late January, nicely developed loral skin joining eye, yellow-olive tones to legs and toes, while swimming the tail was always kept at a very shallow angle, just above and parallel to the water. This age can be very tough, the vast majority of responses I got agreed with this ID, though some I respect immensely felt it better for Tundra or thought it too intermediate to call.