- Whooper Swan
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Whooper Swan 
Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae Subfamily: Anserinae Tribe: Cygnini Genus: Cygnus Species: C. cygnus Binomial name Cygnus cygnus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Summer Resident WinterThe Whooper Swan (pronounced hooper), Cygnus cygnus, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is 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.
Contents
Description
The Whooper Swan is similar in appearance to the Bewick's Swan. However, it is larger, at a length of 140–165 cm (55–65 in) and a wingspan of 205–275 centimetres (81–108 in). Weight typically is in the range of 7.4–14 kilograms (16–31 lb), with an average of 9.8–11 kg (22–24 lb) for males and 8.2–9.2 kg (18–20 lb) for females. The verified record mass was 15.5 kg (34 lb) for a wintering male from Denmark. It is considered to amongst the largest flying birds.[2][3] 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).
Three Whooper Swans and one Mute Swan
Distribution and behaviour
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.[4]
Whooper swans have a deep honking call and, despite their size, are powerful fliers. Whooper swans can migrate many hundreds of miles to their wintering sites in northern 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 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.
Influence
Whooper Swans are much admired in European culture.[4] 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.[5]
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Whooper Swan at Welney, United Kingdom
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Mute Swans with orange bills and Whooper Swans, with yellow bills
References
- ^ BirdLife International (2004). Cygnus cygnus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 9 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ^ Brazil, Mark, The Whooper Swan. Christopher Helm Ornithology (2003), ISBN 978-0713665703
- ^ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), ISBN 978-0849342585.
- ^ a b Mondadori, Arnoldo, ed (1988). Great Book of the Animal Kingdom. New York: Arch Cape Press. pp. 182.
- ^ "Bird flu swan was from outside UK". BBC News. April 11, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4898398.stm.
- Whooper Swan Page RSPB
External links
- Cygnus cygnus in the Flickr: Field Guide Birds of the World
- Cygnus cygnus on Avibase
- Whooper Swan videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
Categories:- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Cygnus
- Migratory birds (Eastern hemisphere)
- Swans
- Birds of Europe
- Birds of Armenia
- Birds of Azerbaijan
- Birds of China
- Birds of Iceland
- Birds of Iran
- Birds of Japan
- Birds of Kazakhstan
- Birds of Korea
- Birds of the Faroe Islands
- Birds of Turkey
- Birds of Turkmenistan
- Birds of Uzbekistan
- British Isles coastal fauna
- National symbols of Finland
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