General

Mute Swan: Aggressive bird, entirely white, orange bill with large black basal knob and naked black lores. Curved neck is often stained with pigments from iron or algae. Female similar but smaller, juveniles are brown-gray.

Range and Habitat

Mute Swan: Prefers freshwater, salt marshes, and protected bays.

Breeding and Nesting

Mute Swan: Four to eight light gray or blue green eggs layed in a mounded nest of reeds, grasses and other plants ususally near water, lined with down, incubated by both sexes for 35 to 38 days.

Foraging and Feeding

Mute Swan: Collects aquatic plants from underwater.

Vocalization

Mute Swan: Generally silent but not mute. Song is a varity of hisses, barks and snorts.

Similar Species

Mute Swan: Tundra Swan holds neck straight, has black bill without knob and naked yellow lores.