Mute Swan - Page 3
© Fred Kane
FEEDING HABITS: Adults and cygnets rarely dive but dip their head and neck below the surface or may tip up in deeper waters to pull at aquatic plants, their main food with their bills. The head and neck of the swan is occasionally stained brown from water and mud holding iron.
There are problems here in the Finger lakes Region with the swans. They chase everything else away from its territory. Most birds just eat the tips of the weeds allowing the weeds to grow back. The mute swan is so strong they pull the weeds, roots and all from the bottom of the lake or pond and the weed doesn't return. Also they chase people in their boats while fishing, chase people in park and boat launching sites. In some cases they have become a nuisance though beautiful.
HISTORY: This order of swans has been partly tameed in Western Europe for the last 900-1000 years. In England it is subject to specific legislation and the Crown granted "royalties" providing the means for particular noblemen and firms to own swans and to label their bills with registered symbols. Mute Swans on the Thames River not marked were possessions of the Crown. Every year on the Thames, young mute swans are still marked in a brilliant exercise called "Swan Upping."
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