Swans -called in for a drink!

One day, on the Isle of Wight my friend Eileen and I visited the Newtown Reserve.  She is a volunteer there every Saturday afternoon.We were having lunch sitting at the boat house when 2 Mute swans toddled up the ramp and stopped at a puddle of fresh water right where are feet were.  They were not fazed by our presence at all.  Below are the shots I took as we watched them and at the end of this post there is a short video.   On the Internet I found facts about Swans and I will intersperse them through the photos and at the end, (if you wish) there is a quiz you can take!!

Swans are highly intelligent and remember who has been kind to them, or not.

 Swans respond in kind to gentle and considerate treatment. They don’t arbitrarily attack people, and will only bite if they feel threatened. They are more aggressive during the nesting season because they need to protect their nest, eggs and babies. Nesting season usually starts in March and lasts a few months until the cygnets can launch out on their own.

 

Mute swans have sharp vision and hearing.

 Although they don’t have a “call” they have a remarkable assortment of sounds to convey a broad range of emotions, from a gentle ‘bleat’ through a range of puppy-like barking notes, and a head-to-tail long snort sometimes combined with head-raising and feathers fluffed, to register delight.

 

They lay from 5 to 10 eggs that take from 35 to 42 days to hatch. The female does most of the egg incubation, but every now and then the male will replace her for a while so she can have a swim and a ‘bite to eat’ in the lagoon.

Cygnets are usually pale grey with grey legs that turn black as they grow, but there is a European sub-species or variant known as the Polish Mute, where the cygnets are white, with pink legs and feet. Our Mama Swan is the only one on Lost Lagoon. This colouring is due to a recessive gene.

 

 

 

A male swan is called a "cob"

 A female swan is called a "pen"

A baby swan is called a "cygnet"

A group of cygnets or eggs is called a "clutch"

A group of swans in the wild is called a “herd” while those in captivity are called a “fleet”

 

Although the North American Mute Swan population is now around 13,000, there are fewer than 1,000 in Canada, and these are divided between southern Ontario and coastal British Columbia.

Swans eat aquatic vegetation and insects, even tiny fish and tadpoles. Because they can plunge their long neck well below the water’s surface, they’re not in competition with ducks and smaller waterfowl for food. They actually help the smaller birds when parts of plants they’re eating float to the surface. 

A swan in a protected environment might live as long as 30 years.

 How to recognise a male from a female: Male and female look alike, but if you look carefully, you can tell one from the other:

1- Males are larger than females;

2- The knob at the base of the male's upper bill is larger than the female's knob. By the way, it’s this knob that distinguishes the mute swan from all others;

3- The neck of a male is thicker than the neck of a female.

  Pinioning: Following Environment Canada's regulations, the swans of Lost Lagoon have been “pinioned” meaning their wing tendons have been clipped. This is done because the Mute Swan was an introduced species, and not native to British Columbia, Canada. Pinioning ensures that they won’t become feral and intermix with native species. They cannot fly away but can raise themselves above the water surface for speedier movement, or to protect their cygnets.

Mute swans weigh from 14 – 30 pounds, are about 5 feet long and

can have a wingspan up to 8 feet.

A mute swan’s neck has 23 vertebrae, more than any other bird. 

A swan has some 25,000 feathers

Mates for life: Swans usually mate for life, remaining together through the year, but “divorces” have been known, and if one of a pair dies, the survivor usually seeks out a new mate, and the pair remain devoted.  

Swans begin to breed between 3 and 4 years of age. It’s a special treat to see swan mates “displaying” during the mating season, gracefully touching bill-to-bill and breast-to-breast until a perfect heart shape is formed, or gently intertwining their necks.

Now you probably knew most of the facts however now if you want to test yourself and see what you know about the Swan,

look up the link http://www.stanley-park-swans.com/quiz.shtml and  do a 30 question quiz. 

I didn’t get them all right however I had just had a glass of wine!!!  Now be honest and send me your results!!  No Prizes however it should be fun and you may even learn something.

You can access the short video at

 http://youtu.be/tylQ9-wPA7Q

If there is a black space below,click it and the video will appear. 

Thank you for visiting.

 

 I am linking my post with The Bird D' Port