Once called Whistling Swan, they are easily recognized (or heard) from distance. They are quite vocal even when they are in flight. You quite commonly heard them first before their physical appearance. I once sitted in my car parked next to this flooded rice field full of chatting swans for hours before dawn and watched them take off when the sun came out. I swear I heard them talking about where to get their breakfast. I can almost feel the wind produced by their tremendous wingbeats when they flew through just above my head. They breed in the tundra within the arctic cycle (that's where their name come from) and winter in the States.

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