Mute Swan

Week of 05.26.25

Majestic bird or total menace - depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different answer! Swans are large, white birds with an elegant neck and body. They have orange bills and black facial markings. These birds often inhabit ponds and are best known for their graceful appearance, but be careful! Get too close, and a swan will not hesitate to exhibit aggressive behavior such as hissing or even, in some cases, biting. 

Mute swans are native to the UK, Eastern Europe, and parts of Russia. They were introduced to North America as beautiful additions to man made water features, and can still be found in urban waterways across the states. In their natural environment, swans prefer bodies of fresh water including rivers, ponds, and inlets that contain aquatic vegetation. Swans rely on land and water vegetation for a diverse diet. They also eat algae, seeds, and even insects.

In England, swans are widely celebrated. Each year, the King’s Swan Marker and team ride down the Thames River in search of swans. When one is spotted, they stop the boat and inspect the bird’s health. According to the royal UK’s official website, this process takes 5 days and has remained a deeply ingrained facet of British culture for hundreds of years. You can read more about England's swan traditions here.

Did you know: in England, all unmarked swans are property of the monarchy and protected by law. 

The relationship to swans in the United States is very different. They can wreck havoc on ecosystems by dominating food sources and nesting grounds. Mute swans are one of the largest species of waterfowl, and adults do not have many natural predators in the US. These factors allow the mute swan to easily push out native species of flora and fauna in their habitats. Some public facilities with ponds, like parks or retirement communities, will use this to their advantage. By purchasing or relocating mute swans into their water, the birds will drive away another controversial species - the Canada goose. It becomes a race of non-native birds scaring away non-native birds, but has become relatively common practice in recent years. The swan, in all its elegance, is generally better received than the Canada goose. Despite its efficacy (or lack thereof), it is an interesting look into human intervention on bird species, and how people perceive relatively similar birds.

Mute swans form loyal relationships with other swans, and are generally monogamous for life. They will rest their long necks on each other, and exhibit displays of affection while swimming, nesting, and resting on the water's edge. Baby swans, called signets, are small, white, and fuzzy with black bills. It is not until adulthood that the swan will develop its mature markings, including an orange bill. A pair of swans lays about 5 eggs, once a year.

Swans are a common symbol of grace and frequently appear in literature and art. The most notable example is famous ballet "Swan Lake", a show about a woman who is turned into a swan, set to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Today, we end with a poem by Mary Oliver, titled The Swan.

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?

Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air –

An armful of white blossoms,

A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned

into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,

Biting the air with its black beak?

Did you hear it, fluting and whistling

A shrill dark music – like the rain pelting the trees – like a waterfall

Knifing down the black ledges?

And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds –

A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet

Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?

And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?

And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?

And have you changed your life?

Have a great week!

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Sources:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mute_Swan/

https://www.royal.uk/swans#:~:text=History%20and%20the%20law,-The%20Crown%20has&text=Historically%2C%20valuable%20rights%20of%20ownership,and%20are%20a%20protected%20species.

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/mute-swan

Art by Anne Longman