The Whooper Swan

Cygnus cygnus, the Whooper Swan, is one of the most recognisable of all of the swans. Primarily to be found in Northern Europe and Scandinavia, the Whooper Swan is the very image of how most people think a swan should look.

To many people all swans look alike, and yet there are some very distinctive characteristics of the Whooper Swan. The Whooper Swan is one of the largest of the swans, although smaller than the Trumpeter Swan. A male cob Whooper Swan can measure up to 160cm in length, with a wing span of up to 275cm, although female pen Whooper Swans are noticeably smaller than their male counterparts. The size of the swan of course has a direct impact upon the weight of the bird, with the largest swans weighing up to 20kg.

Male and Female Whooper Swans - Andreas Trepte - CC-BY-SA-2.5

The Whooper Swan is predominantly white, although they do have black legs, with black beaks. The black beaks can have a substantial amount of yellow on them, normally in a triangular shape. The Whooper Swan is also noted for its long thin neck and angular head.

Arguably the most distinctive of the Whooper Swan characteristics is not physical but is rather the call that they make, identified with the trumpet, the sound made is reminiscent of “whoop”, hence their name.

Another characteristic of the Whooper Swan is their courtship ritual. The pair of Whooper Swans will face each other, with their wings lifted and half open. The wings will then start to quiver as the necks of the cob and pen are bent and extended several times. Whilst the display is being put on, the birds will also make their distinctive trumpeting noise.

A successful courtship will see a pair of Whooper Swans mate for life, and also hopefully a successfully breeding period. Both the cob and the pen will help to build a nest, with the pen laying up to 12 eggs, although half that figure is more normal. As the female Whooper Swan then incubates the eggs, the male will become ultra protective over the nest and his mate, although the incubation period lasts for about five weeks.

Whooper Swans at Big Waters - Sciadopitys - CC-BY-SA-2.0

Visiting Whooper Swans to the United Kingdom are normally those that have bred in Iceland, and only a handful of Whooper Swans (three to seven pairs) actually breed in Scotland and northern England.

In the United Kingdom there are an estimated 7000 Whooper Swans to be found from October to March, although this is only a small percentage of the 180000 global population. The majority of Whooper Swans prefer other sites in Northern Europe and Asia. Whooper swans though do seek out particular types of environments. In particular they like wetland habitats, and spend the majority of their lives in water, primarily because their legs have trouble supporting their body weight. They also like farmland areas, as grain stubble and potatoes helps provide them with additional food on top of their normal aquatic plant diet.

The size and sound of the Whooper Swan makes it one of the more recognisable types of swans in the Northern Hemisphere.

Copyright - First Published 1st March 2010