Whooper swan becomes bird of pride of Sukhbaatar province

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Citizens Representative Khural of Sukhbaatar province made a resolution on announcing the whooper swan as a pride bird of the province. D.Batkhurel, a head of department of nature, environment and tourism of the aimag, said they follow an example set up by other provinces, for instance, Bayan-Olgii is celebrating eagle festival, Khovsgol--reindeer people’s and ice festivals, Omnogobi--a festival of camel,"and we can attract tourist by gathering beautiful swans, especially in autumn they come to the lake Ganga." Mongolia has three species of swans such as gangar, khuruut and gungar. Gangar swan or Whooper swan is migrating from tropical country late March-early April and start laying eggs. In mid October, over 2,000 swans gather at the Ganga lake. "This summer we will build a tower with 4 meters altitude for observing swans and illuminated birds' board, and plan to celebrate the international festival during such gatherings," he said. The Whooper Swan, Cygnus cygnus, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American Trumpeter Swan. An old name for the Whooper Swan is 'Elk'; it is so-called in Francis Willughby and John Ray’s Ornithology of 1676.