Tag Archives: how to tell the difference between a male and female Mute swan

Cygnet Love – Happy Mother’s Day!

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For several weeks, on my way home from Boston editing the Piping Plover documentary, I have been stopping to film the adventures of a beautiful Mute Swan family. I think the cygnets are about 2.5 weeks old.

The Mute Swan parents are fabulously attentive. Whenever Mom and Dad want the cygnets to move to another area of the pond, Dad clears the way of any debris on the path, and hisses at humans and dogs to let them know the family is crossing. Mom tirelessly pulls up pond vegetation by pedaling in the mud, then diving to retrieve a beak-full.

Eight cygnets hatched however, last I stopped by to film, only seven remain. This same pair hatched two cygnets last year and both were taken by Snapping Turtles. Hopefully, with such a large brood, most will survive <3

Happy Mom’s Day!

Note- The adult swan in the footage is the female. You can easily see the difference between male and female during the breeding season because the the male’s knob, or “blackberry” (the black protuberance just above the bill ), is almost twice as large as the female’s knob.

MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS, GOSLINGS, AND CYGNETS!

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Photos from area ponds – I spent far more time observing the cygnets but all three families were super sweet and adorable. The Mute Swan cygnets are about a week old, the Mallard ducklings tiny, probably only a few days old, and I am not sure how old are the Canada Geese goslings.

The female Mute Swan is on the left. You can tell by the size of the black knob above the bill. Typically, the male’s knob, also called a blackberry, is slightly larger during the breeding season.

Mom Mute Swan repeatedly dives deeply to pull up pond vegetation for the cygnets meal. Growing swans have huge appetites. Both she and the male do this many time during the course of a day.