‘They’re big. There are lots of them. And they sound cool. What more could you want in a bird?
With their elegant long necks, tundra swans on their way to the Arctic have landed in the region.
Like large ghost birds on the water, they add luster and life to the brown landscape in early spring. And at least 1,000 swans were spotted at Presque Isle State Park Link here in Erie Friday, with lower numbers sprinkled throughout the region.
“They’re big. There are lots of them. And they sound cool. What more could you want in a bird?” asked Katie Andersen, a naturalist with the Erie Bird Observatory, a nonprofit for avian research, education and conservation in northwestern Pennsylvania.
The flocks make for an early spring spectacle along with numerous species of migrating ducks.
“The ducks are fantastic with their courtship displays, making weird sounds and throwing their heads around. The males are beautiful — every feather is perfect now and they are at their best,” Andersen said.
This past weekend, the sheets of ice remaining on Lake Arthur at Moraine State Park in Butler County served as the landing pad for at least 50 tundra swans who rested and swam in the open patches of water.
A professional photographer and videographer from North Sewickley Township in Beaver County, Matthew Mann took his wife and 4-year-old daughter to see the convergence of swans at Lake Arthur.
“When they start carrying on, they sound like flying monkeys from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’” he said. “We were also able to see them flying in formation. It was very windy and cold but worth the memories to make.”
An annual rite of early spring, tundra swans migrate through Western Pennsylvania from the East Coast to reach their breeding grounds in the North American Arctic.
If not on the water, flocks fly in a classic “V” formation or a straight line.
Living close to Lake Erie all of her life, Andersen has been listening to the spring and fall migration of tundra swans at night. When she hears the swans’ bugling flight calls of “ou” or “oh” in February and March, “it’s the sound of winter leaving. We’re all ready for a little bit of spring.”
A 4,000-mile trip from the East Coast to Northern Alaska takes the swans about two months in spring, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
“People don’t realize that this pretty spectacular bird migrates through,” said Mike Fialkovich of Churchill, president of the Three Rivers Birding Club.
One of the best times to see the swans is when bad weather forces them to land, known as a “fall-out,” he said.
The rainstorm on Friday likely brought out some swans at local lakes including Fayette County’s Green Lick Run Lake, he noted.
Fialkovich saw about 30 swans on Saturday at Trout Run Reservoir in Westmoreland County near Ligonier while looking for and finding a rare migrating duck, the Eurasian widgeon. Other hotspots with water bird reports include Pymatuning State Park and Conneaut Lake.
Big swan flocks didn’t land on the rivers in Pittsburgh recently, but there are a few around including one at Wingfield Pines in Upper St. Clair and South Fayette, he said.
The combination of ice and open water at Presque Isle makes for large concentrations of the birds, Andersen said.
“Presque Isle and Erie are great stopover spots,” she said. “The tundra swans need open water and shallows for feeding and water to hang out, and protected areas like the ice to stay away from potential predators.”
On March 4 and 5, one flock of 125 swans and another of 77 were recorded during an Erie Bird Observatory flight count at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center’s tower.
“You’ll hear them frequently before you see them,” Andersen said.
The swans are expected to be in the region for the next few weeks, she said. However, warm temperatures this week will melt ice on lakes, leaving more open water for the swans and other birds to disperse.
Correction (March 11, 2025): An earlier version of this story had the improper credit for the photo of tundra swans in flight at Presque Isle State Park. The photo was provided courtesy of Katie Andersen/Erie Bird Observatory.
First Published: March 11, 2025, 4:30 a.m.
Updated: March 12, 2025, 9:54 a.m.
Mary Ann Thomas is a Post-Gazette features and outdoors reporter. A Pittsburgh native and University of Pittsburgh graduate, she has spent more than two decades covering regional news including research on the flora and fauna of Western Pennsylvania.
