Scientific Name: Cygnus olor (Anatidae).
English Name: Mute Swan (Ducks and Geese family).
French Name: Le Cygne tuberculé (='Tuberculate Swan') or le Cygne muet (='Mute Swan').
5 Key Characters:
- a very large bird, a metre and a half from beak to tail.
- well proportioned, giving an overall appearance of gracefulness, holding its neck in the classic elegant 'S' profile when swimming.
- makes the most extraordinary whistling whooshing sound with its wings in flight that can be heard for miles.
- conspicuous black knob (the tubercule) on the beak.
- the only swan species in this area.
Lookalikes: None in this area (except maybe big white domestic geese).
Habitat: Lakes (including in parks), flooded gravel pits, étangs, sometimes on the rivers.
Status: Common and widespread.
Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
The female's "knob" is much smaller when compared to the male...
ReplyDeleteespecially in the breeding season.
The male bill is a deep orange... the female is lighter...
tending toward yellow...
but NEVER as yellow as Whooper or Bewicks.