North Carolina Whistling Swans are abundant winter residents of extreme 

 northeastern North Carolina. They may arrive as early as early October, and an 

 occasional bird will linger until May. The principal wintering areas are Lake 

 Mattamuskeet , Hyde County, and Pea Island, Dare County. The population winter- 

 ing at Lake Mattamuskeet increased from 10,500 in 1970-71 (Teulings 1971a) to 

 over 25,000 in 1976-77 (Teulings 1977a). We do not know how much of this in- 

 crease represented true population growth and how much was due to displacement 

 of birds that previously wintered in Chesapeake Bay. Bellrose (1976) reported 

 that an average of 14,000 wintered from Back Bay, Virginia, to Lake Mattamuskeet 

 and Pamlico Sound in North Carolina. The winter survey of 1975 (Goldsberry et 

 al. 1980) reported a wintering population of 26,900 in North Carolina; this re- 

 presents about 22% of the total (ca. 120,900) recorded on the survey of North 

 American waterfowl. Elsewhere in North Carolina, Whistling Swans are regular 

 in small numbers along the coast and rare inland, although inland records are 

 increasing. 



South Carolina Sprunt and Chamberlain (1949) called Whistling Swans rare 

 winter residents that occur generally along the coast; they listed dates of oc- 

 currence from 22 October to 2 April. Burton (1970) added five records from the 

 1960's. In 1971-72, several hundred moved south from North Carolina for the 

 winter (Teulings 1972b) and since then these swans have been seen regularly in 

 small but increasing numbers. 



Cely (1979) made aerial surveys of wintering populations in South Carolina 

 during 1976-77 and 1977-78 and found about 100 birds each winter. Maximum con- 

 centrations found were at Huntington Beach State Park (15 birds), South Island 

 Refuge, Georgetown County (28), Bull's Island (30), and Savannah NWR (25). Cely 

 noted that these swans also concentrate at Doe Hall Plantation, Charleston 

 County. As many as 30 swans have been reported there. He also suggested that 

 the wintering population in South Carolina might be as high as 120 birds if 

 those overlooked during the survey and those from inland localities were in- 

 cluded. We list below coastal records since 1970 from American Birds. 



1971 



2 Jan. 



individuals 

 seen 



Charleston 



Teulings 1971b 



2 seen 



"many more 

 than usual" 



"up to 75 

 present" 



1 found 



Trenton 

 Charleston 



Doe Hall Plantation, 

 McClellanville 



Par Pond, Savannah Riv- 

 er Atomic Reserv. , near 

 Aiken (inland) 



Teulings 1971b 

 Teulings 1972b 



Teulings 1972b 



Teulings 1974a 



1977 



21 Jan. 



individual 

 seen 



Huntington Beach St. 

 Park 



LeGrand 1977a 



49 



