Whooper Swan

Saturday's post follows on from yesterdays one and as promised I am sharing with you today the 
 

Whooper Swan (pronounced hooper), Cygnus cygnus.
 

 It is a large Northern Hemisphere swan, 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.   

As usual, I will add information throughout the photos and finish with a video. 

 

 

 

The above and below photos I have added so that you understand how far I was away from the Swans.

 

The Whooper Swan is similar in appearance to the Bewick's Swan. However, it is larger, at a length of 55–65 ins and a wingspan of 81–108 ins.  Weight typically is in the range of 16–31 lbs with an average of 22–25 lbs for males and 18–20
lbs for females.  The verified record mass was 34 lbs. for a wintering male from Denmark.  It is considered to be amongst the heaviest flying birds.  Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 22.1–25.0 ins, the tarsus is 4.1–5.1 ins and the bill is 3.6–4.6 ins.  It has a more angular head shape and a more variable bill pattern that always shows more yellow than black (Bewick's Swans have more black than yellow).

Whooper Swans require large areas of water to live in, especially when they are still growing, because their body weight cannot be supported by their legs for extended periods of time. The Whooper swan spends much of its time swimming, straining the water for food, or eating plants that grow on the bottom.

 

 

 

 

Whooper Swans can migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles to their wintering sites in southern Europe and eastern Asia. 

 

 

They breed in subarctic Eurasia, further south than Bewicks in the taiga zone.  They are rare breeders in northern Scotland, particularly in Orkney, and no more than five pairs have bred there in recent years. This bird is an occasional vagrant to the Indian Subcontinent and western North America.  Icelandic breeders overwinter in the United Kingdom and Ireland, especially in the wildfowl nature reserves of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

 

Whooper Swans pair for life, and their cygnets stay with them all winter; they are sometimes joined by offspring from previous years. Their preferred breeding habitat is wetland, but semi-domesticated birds will build a nest anywhere close to water.  

 

Both the male and female help build the nest, and the male will stand guard over the nest while the female incubates. The female will usually lay 4–7 eggs (exceptionally 12). The cygnets hatch after about 36 days and have a grey or brown plumage. The cygnets can fly at an age of 120 to 150 days.

 

 

 

 

Whooper Swans have a deep honking call and, despite their size, are powerful fliers. 

 

Whooper Swan has been recorded migrating at altitudes up to 8,200m when the ambient temperatures is -40C.

 

 

 

 

Musical utterances by Whooper Swans at the moment of death have been suggested as the origin of the swan song legend.

 

 

• Whooper Swans are much admired in Europe.
• The Whooper Swan is the national bird of Finland and is featured on the Finnish 1 euro coin.
• The Whooper Swan is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African- Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

 

The global spread of H5N1 reached the UK in April 2006 in the form of a dead Whooper Swan found in Scotland.

 

The yellow markings on their bills are like human fingerprints: they are all different.  Each individual bird can be recognised by its bill pattern.  I added this photos because the Swan front centre has a nob on his head!

 

A group of swans has these collective nouns including a ‘ballet’, ‘bevy’, ‘drift’, ‘regatta’, and ‘school’.

You can access the video at

http://youtu.be/YFXlA_8VwFM

 

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

 

 

 

Well I hope you are not disappointed when you read and see these magnificent flying machines.

 

They come to Northern Ireland every year to a few areas, this being one area.  The other day, at Islandhill, near Newtownards (about 5 miles away from my  home), I saw another 200-300 feeding in a field however I could not get anywhere near them.  There is another group that are found near Londonderry/Derry and although I have not seen them yet this year, you have a good view of them as you are travelling by train to that city.

 

Many thanks for visiting and leaving your comments.