Mute Swan

Cygnus olor

June 20, 1996: Saint Mary’s Lake, St. Joseph County, IN

While while walking on the sunny Notre Dame campus with my mom, we saw a pair of adults with three young birds. First we walked by them while they were foraging on the shore (they were only a few feet away from the path). Later we watched them swimming on the lake. HUGE and beautiful birds. Plus, I always enjoy seeing juvenile birds.

June 29, 1996: St James’s Park, London, England

Saw a family of these swimming on the lake.

June 30, 1996: St James’s Park, London, England

Probably the same birds from the previous day.

July 6, 1996: Orkney Islands, Scotland

While these could possibly have been Whoopers, I am going to err on the side of caution and call these possible Mutes. I didn’t get a good enough look to determine species either way.

July 14, 1996: St James’s Park, London, England

May 24, 1998: Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge South Pond, Dare County, NC

Apparently this bird is unusual here. We spotted this one first in New Field Pond, and by later in the day it had moved to North Pond. A strikingly large bird, especially when seen out on the marsh like that!

April 29, 2001: Aberlady Bay Local Nature Reserve, East Lothian, Scotland

Spotted a lone bird on a small pond and later saw three more flying overhead.

May 5, 2001: Aberlady Bay Local Nature Reserve, East Lothian, Scotland

Saw a few swans throughout the day, including one which flew over Marl Loch so near to me that I was able to hear its wings whistling. Magnificent! What huge and beautiful birds. Sometimes it is easy to take them for granted because they are rather common, but they really are spectacular to watch in action!

May 8, 2001: Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh, Scotland

One flew in and landed in the water very near where we were sitting. A nice close-up view for Eclipse, who can identify this bird as a swan.

May 12, 2001: Ferry Meadows, Cambridgeshire, England

These birds are proving to be ubiquitous in Great Britain.

May 14, 2001: Sandwich & Pegwell Bay National Nature Reserve, Kent, England

While driving through Sandwich, we saw a swan on her nest right in the middle of town – the nest was up on a bank of the stream that ran through town, but it was definitely a well-traveled route. I was surprised but pleased to see this bird and her nest!

May 16, 2001: Réserve Naturelle Nationale de la Baie de Somme-Parc du Marquenterre, Picardie, France

A few of these birds in the park. Not too surprising – we’ve seen them just about everywhere we’ve gone so far.

May 18, 2001: Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, Kent, England

May 19, 2001: Lee Valley Regional Park, Hertfordshire, England

May 21, 2001: Aberlady Bay Local Nature Reserve, East Lothian, Scotland

December 7, 2001: Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Adults and juveniles were swimming in one of the ponds in the garden.

April 6, 2002: Aberlady Bay Local Nature Reserve, East Lothian, Scotland

September 6, 2002: Hyde Park, London, England

These swans were among several species not far from the Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park. They seemed pretty optimistic about getting treats from the tourists.

November 4, 2002: Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, England

On Windermere (the lake itself) we saw lots more mute swans. But nothing like what we saw at the dock in Bowness where dozens of swans were hanging around begging for food. Eclipse loved feeding them.