The federal government is considering a proposal to establish a new hunting season for tundra swans in the Prairie provinces — a move that one hunter says could endanger trumpeter swans, a similar-looking, sensitive species.
Proposed changes to Canada’s migratory bird regulations would create a new tundra swan hunting season in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Tundra swans are hunted in a handful of U.S. states, but in Canada they’re currently a protected species at the federal level.
David Duncan, a hunter and retired biologist, says such a hunt could lead to people mistakenly shooting trumpeter swans, a sensitive species that can’t be hunted anywhere in North America.
How do you tell the difference
Tundra Swans are much smaller than Trumpeters. But the giveaway to me is the little white spot near the Tundra’s eye.