WELCOME TO Swan Lake Idaho

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Springtime is here and swans have returned to Swanlake, Idaho. Living up to its name, the lake currently hosts over 150 swans and several thousands ducks and geese. It is alive with quacks, honks, whistles, wing flapping and birds anxious to head north.
Swan Lake is 48 miles south of Pocatello next to Highway 91 just past the general store that makes up Swan Lake. It is a major stop over Tundra and Trumpeter Swans headed north. Joining the swans is a delightful variety of migrating ducks and geese. Most of the swans using the lake are Tundra swans. Magnificent birds, they have 6 to 7 foot wingspans and weigh 20 to 25 pounds.
These are the flying mega fortresses of the bird world. Big, strong and tough they fly thousands of miles each year. Most are returning from the Salt Lake Marshes where 40,000 rafted during the winter and the Central Valley of California. They move north as the ice comes off ponds and lakes. The only bird bigger than the Tundra swan is the Trumpeter swan, which can weigh up to 40 pounds and is the biggest flying bird in the world.
On the water Trumpeter and Tundra swans are very hard to tell apart until you hear them sound off. A flock of trumpeters sound likes an orchestra warming up. Tundra's have a deep almost goose like sound that bounces off the water that is often mistaken for the Canada geese.
Swans dot the lake looking like white puffs on blue water. Mixed in are hundreds of ducks and geese. Cavorting about in flight over the lake are sleek northern pintails sporting a black and white spring suit of colors with a spiked black tail feather sticking. This festive springtime ritual is part of courtship. Goldeneye ducks with shimmering greenish heads; bright golden eyes and a jaunty white cheek patch make wakes in the water like miniature tugboats churning along.
Cinnamon Teal and Green wing teal keep their distance from swans as they swim along bobbing their heads. Teal are pint size, weighing not much more than a pound. One of the fastest flyers in the waterfowl world they are also one of the most beautiful. The Cinnamon teal glisten in the sun, a glowing cinnamon color radiates off their feathers.
Novice and experienced birders enjoy this springtime show. Canada geese ignore bird watchers as they go through spring courtship rituals. They preen, chase other geese away from their partners and go through a series of neck streches and wing flapping to stake out their mate and the territory around them. It is a great show.
To help you identify these winged creatures buy, barrow or go to the library and check out a bird book. They are easy to use and have great colored pictures of birds that help you identify what you see. Peterson Field Guides and the Audubon Field Guide to North American birds are useful tools and full of interesting information.
Take a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope along to get the best view of the birds possible. Beg, barrow but don't steal a pair of the best binoculars or a spotting scope. Good optics magically cut the long distances and gives you a fuller view of the swans and their antics.