Mute swan
The mute swan, notable for its distinctive black face and bright orange bill, is a large, all-white waterfowl belonging to the Anatidae family. These elegant birds typically measure between 55 to 62 inches in length and can weigh around 24 pounds. Mute swans inhabit medium to large bodies of shallow water, including marshes, lakes, and rivers, where they find abundant food sources. They are omnivorous and feed primarily on aquatic plants, but may also consume small fish and insects. Interestingly, despite their name suggesting silence, mute swans can hiss, grunt, and snort.
Each year, mute swans undergo a molting process that temporarily prevents them from flying. Their breeding season occurs in March and April, with the female laying a clutch of five to twelve eggs, which she incubates for about 36 to 38 days. Mute swans form long-term pair bonds and typically raise their young, known as cygnets, together. While these swans can live up to 30-40 years in captivity, their lifespan in the wild is often shorter. They face threats from habitat loss, pollution, and lead poisoning from ingested fishing weights, but they are not currently considered a threatened species.
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Mute swan
The mute swan is distinct from the other all-white swans with its black face and bright orange bill. This swan has long been a bird kept by royal families in Britain. Mute means being unable to speak or make a sound, but in spite of its name and the old belief that it never makes a sound, the mute swan does hiss, grunt, and snort.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Cygnus
Species: Olor
Mute swans have all-white plumage, or feathering, and black faces with bright orange bills. Each swan molts, or sheds, its white plumage each year and grows a new set of feathers. During molting they are unable to fly. Mute swans are 55 to 62 inches (140 to 160 centimeters) long and weigh an average of 24 pounds (10 kilograms). Their large wings span about six feet (two meters). One can distinguish the pen from the cob by the black knob of skin on the top of the cob's bill near his head.
Mute swans live on medium-sized to large bodies of shallow, open water, such as marshes, large rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. These sites provide a supply of food as well as room for take off and landing. Muted swans are omnivores, or animals that eat plants and meat. They may eat up to 10 pounds (4 1/2 kilograms) of aquatic plants and roots, grass, herbs, and grains each day. Occasionally, they may also eat insects, frogs, and small fish. Most feeding is done by tipping their bodies forward so their tails are in the air. Their long necks then stretch downward so they can reach food which is almost three feet (one meter) underwater. The swans appear to be quite territorial of their feeding and nesting areas.
Threats to these swans, as to some others, is pollution and destruction of habitat. Another danger is that the swans may swallow the lead fishing weights which fishermen leave behind. These weights cause lead poisoning in the birds. Other swans have flown into power lines or had their nests disturbed by people. Natural predators of mute swans include raccoons and minks.
The life of a mute swan begins when the cob, or male, and pen, or female, mate during the months of March and April. The pair's ground nest near the water is a pile of sticks and reeds and contains five to 12 greenish-white eggs. The pen lays one egg every 48 hours. She then does most of the incubating of the eggs, which hatch after 36 to 38 days. The cygnets, or young swans, remain with their parents until sometime during winter. They have all their feathers after three or four months and their adult plumage after one year. They are able to mate for the first time when they are two to three years old. Once they form a pair, a cob and a pen mate for life. Although a mute swan may possibly live between 30 and 40 years, particularly in captivity, it is rare for one to live more than nine years in the wild.
Unlike their name suggests, and as many people believed for years, mute swans do make noises, such as hisses, grunts, and snorts.
The mute swan is not a threatened species.
Bibliography
Ivory, Alicia. “ADW: Cygnus Olor: Information.” Animal Diversity Web, 2002, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cygnus‗olor. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Mute Swan Overview.” All About Birds, 2024, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mute‗Swan/overview. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.