Cantor to Post to Spitalnik

Trumpeter Swan on Reservoir - 12/16/06

photos by Lloyd Spitalnik http://www.lloydspitalnikphotos.com


Remember Tinker to Evers to Chance? Well, Cantor to Post to Spitalnik, that's how the news was passed down about the Central Park Trumpeter Swan, a very unusual bird that made an appearance at the Reservoir on December 16th :

Irv Cantor, an ace birdwatcher who goes way, way back, first spotted an unusual swan siting on the dike in the Central Park Reservoir.

[actually ace birdwatcher David Speiser's wife Kimberly was jogging around the Reservoir on Saturday morning when a fellow jogger told her about an odd swan she'd seen there.. When Kimberly got home she mentioned it to David. But he didn't follow up. So he was not #1. Maybe Kimberly's jogger friend was.]

At the Boathouse a little later Irv Cantor met Peter Post, another ace Central Park birdwatcher who goes way back, but not as way back as Irv Cantor. He headed for the Reservoir. As soon as he saw the bird Peter called Lloyd Spitalnik, yet another ace CP birdwatcher. He told him there was an unusual swan on the Reservoir that was either a Tundra Swan or a Trumpeter Swan. Lloyd headed right over with his camera.

Post script:

Before leaving for the Reservoir, Lloyd called yet another ace birdwatcher Harry Maas, who dropped everything, raced to the park, and got there even before Lloyd.


Once at the Reservoir the binocular gang debated about the species of swan. Was it a Trumpeter Swan, America's largest, or a Tundra Swan, our smallest? [Both are nevertheless big, big birds]. A decision was finally reached. It was a Trumpeter Swan. An exciting discovery. But since there is a reintroduction program for this species in New York State the bird is not yet on the official state list. Once it is established it will be added to the list.

Alas, the swan did not stay for the Christmas Count the next day. Now THAT would have been a coup for the Central Park Count. But by 7 a.m. when a number of birders arrived at the Reservoir to search for the swan it was gone. But perhaps because it's not officially on the state list yet it couldn't have been counted anyway. Ah sweet mysteries of birdwatching...

Here's a link to a good discussion about telling Trumpeters and Tundras apart
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/SwanID.htm