Home/Species/ Mute Swan

Cygnus olor

(Gmelin, 1789)

Mute Swan

G5Secure Found in 18 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →

G5SecureGlobal Rank

Least concernIUCN

Identity

Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100736

Element CodeABNJB02040

Record TypeSPECIES

ClassificationSpecies

Classification StatusStandard

Name CategoryVertebrate Animal

IUCNLeast concern

Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

KingdomAnimalia

PhylumCraniata

ClassAves

OrderAnseriformes

FamilyAnatidae

GenusCygnus

Other Common Names

Cygne tuberculé (FR)

Concept Reference

American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.

Taxonomic Comments

See Meng et al. (1990) for information on variability of DNA fingerprints in C. cygnus, C. olor, and C. columbianus.

Conservation Status

Rank MethodExpertise without calculation

Review Date2016-04-07

Change Date1996-11-20

Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

Range Extent Comments

Native to Eurasia. Introduced and established in North America, with breeding recorded locally from southern Saskatchewan, Great Lakes region (Michigan), southern New York and Connecticut south to central Missouri and along the Atlantic coast to Virginia; other populations have been recorded in the vicinity of Vancouver Island and in Oregon and Indiana; also in other areas of world. In the U.S., the highest winter densities occur in Michigan and along the eastern seaboard from Delaware to Massachusetts (Root 1988).

Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Open and quiet waters of lakes, ponds, marshes, and sluggish rivers, also in brackish and protected marine situations in winter (AOU 1983). Nests usually at water's edge on land or small islands, or in reed beds in shallow water, primarily in freshwater areas.

Ecology

Introduced swans in southern New England occupy and defend territories against conspecific individuals year-round, except when mid-winter ice prevents occupancy. Some swans defend their territories also against waterfowl of other species, though interference with the nesting of other species has not been documented. As of the early 1990s, no impact of swans on aquatic vegetation was evident (Conover and Kania 1994).

Reproduction

Clutch size averages 4-6. Incubation lasts 34-38 days, mainly or entirely by female. Young are tended by both parents, independent at about 4 months.

Palustrine Habitats

HERBACEOUS WETLANDRiparian

Other Nations (2)

CanadaNNA

Province	Rank	Native
British Columbia	SNA	No
Quebec	SNA	No
Ontario	SNA	No

United StatesNNA

Province	Rank	Native
Indiana	SNA	No
Nebraska	SNA	No
Ohio	SNA	No
North Carolina	SNA	No
New York	SNA	No
New Hampshire	SNA	No
Pennsylvania	SNA	No
Washington	SNA	No
Illinois	SNA	No
Virginia	SNA	No
Maine	SNA	No
Iowa	SNA	No
West Virginia	SNA	No
Delaware	SNA	No
Kentucky	SNA	No
Wisconsin	SNA	No
Missouri	SNA	No
Maryland	SNA	No
Rhode Island	SNA	No
Idaho	SNA	No
Michigan	SNA	No
Massachusetts	SNA	No
Arkansas	SNA	No
Connecticut	SNA	No
South Carolina	SNA	No
New Jersey	SNA	No
Oklahoma	SNA	No
Minnesota	SNA	No

Roadless Areas (18)

California (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Timbered Crater	Lassen National Forest	4,096

Idaho (2)

Area	Forest	Acres
Pioneer Mountains	Salmon-Challis National Forest	172,460
Pioneer Mountains	Sawtooth National Forest	119,563

Michigan (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Government Island	Hiawatha National Forest	225

Nevada (7)

Area	Forest	Acres
Rose - Alum Creek	Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest	853
Rose - Dutch Louie	Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest	363
Rose - Evans	Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest	4,782
Rose - Hunter Lk No	Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest	149
Rose - Northeast	Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest	550
Rose - Verdi	Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest	1,155
Rose - Whites Canyon	Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest	2,568

North Carolina (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Wilson Creek	Pisgah National Forest	4,863

Oregon (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Hurricane Creek	Wallowa-Whitman National Forest	1,606

Utah (4)

Area	Forest	Acres
418012	Uinta National Forest	25,758
418025	Uinta National Forest	32,698
Cottonwood	Dixie National Forest	6,754
Wellsville	Wasatch-Cache National Forest	1,717

Virginia (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Gum Run	George Washington National Forest	12,620

References (16)

Allin, C. C., G. C. Chasko, and T. P. Husband. 1987. Mute swans in the Atlantic Flyway: a review of the history, population growth and management needs. Trans. Northeast. Sect. Wildl. Soc. 44:32-47.
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Birkhead, M., and C. Perrins. 1986. The mute swan. Croom Helm, London. xiv + 157 pp.
Conover, M. R., and G. S. Kania. 1994. Impact of interspecific aggression and herbivory by mute swans on native waterfowl and aquatic vegetation in New England. Auk 111:744-748.
Glazener, W. C. 1946. Food habits of wild geese on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management 10:322-329.
Hammond, M. C., and G. E. Mann. 1956. Waterfowl nesting islands. Journal of Wildlife Management 20:345-352.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Hughes, R. J., A. Reed, and G. Gauthier. 1994. Space and habitat use by Greater Snoow Goose broods on Bylot Island, Northwest Territories. Journal of Wildlife Management 58:536-545.
Knapton, R. W. 1993. Population status and reproductive biology of the mute swan, CYGNUS OLOR, at Long Point, Lake Erie, Ontario. Can. Field-Nat. 107:354-356.
Kortright, F.H. 1967. The ducks, geese, and swans of North America. The Stackpole Company, Harrisburg, PA, and Wildlife Management Institute, Washington, D.C. 476 pp.
Meng, A., R. E. Carter, and D. T. Parkin. 1990. The variability of DNA fingerprints in three species of swan. Heredity 64:73-80.
Palmer, R. S., editor. 1976. Handbook of North American birds. Vol. 2. Waterfowl (first part). Whistling ducks, swans, geese, sheld-ducks, dabbling ducks. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven. 521 pp.
Root, T. 1988. Atlas of wintering North American birds: An analysis of Christmas Bird Count data. University of Chicago Press. 336 pp.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Williams, C. S., and C. A. Sooter. 1941. Canada Goose habitats in Utah and Oregon. Transactions of the North American Wildlife Conference 5:383-387.