Whooper Swan

Whooper Swan
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      Winter

The 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]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ Brazil, Mark, The Whooper Swan. Christopher Helm Ornithology (2003), ISBN 978-0713665703
  3. ^ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), ISBN 978-0849342585.
  4. ^ a b Mondadori, Arnoldo, ed (1988). Great Book of the Animal Kingdom. New York: Arch Cape Press. pp. 182. 
  5. ^ "Bird flu swan was from outside UK". BBC News. April 11, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4898398.stm. 

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • whooper swan — [ho͞o′pər, hwo͞o′pər, wo͞o′pər] n. a large swan (Cygnus cygnus) of the Old World, having a black and yellow bill …   English World dictionary

  • whooper swan — noun common Old World swan noted for its whooping call • Syn: ↑whooper, ↑Cygnus cygnus • Derivationally related forms: ↑whoop (for: ↑whooper) • Hypernyms: ↑swan …   Useful english dictionary

  • Whooper Swan — gulbė giesmininkė statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Cygnus Cygnus angl. Whooper Swan vok. Singschwan …   Paukščių anatomijos terminai

  • whooper swan — gulbė giesmininkė statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Cygnus cygnus; Olor cygnus angl. whooper swan vok. Singschwan, m rus. лебедь кликун, m pranc. cygne chanteur, m ryšiai: platesnis terminas – gulbės …   Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

  • whooper swan — noun Date: 1879 a chiefly Eurasian swan (Cygnus cygnus) with a yellow and black bill compare trumpeter swan …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • whooper swan — a common, Old World swan, Cygnus cygnus, distinguished by a yellow patch at the base of its bill, noted for its whooping cry. [1875 80] * * * …   Universalium

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  • Swan — For other uses, see Swan (disambiguation). Swans Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) Scientific classification Ki …   Wikipedia

  • swan — swan1 swanlike, adj. /swon/, n. 1. any of several large, stately aquatic birds of the subfamily Anserinae, having a long, slender neck and usually pure white plumage in the adult. Cf. mute swan, trumpeter swan, whistling swan, whooper swan. 2. a… …   Universalium

  • Swan — /swon/, n. Sir Joseph Wilson, 1828 1914, British chemist, electrical engineer, and inventor. * * * I Long necked, heavy bodied, big footed waterfowl (genus Cygnus, family Anatidae). Among waterfowl, swans are the largest and fastest, both… …   Universalium

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