Whooper Swan

Cygnus cygnus

This morning (20th November 2020) from the kitchen window I was lucky enough to see four beautiful white Whooper swans fly from west to east with the dark background of Beinn a’ Chuallaich behind. The Whooper swans that come to Rannoch are migrants from Iceland where they breed. There are two locations where Whooper swans breed. One is Iceland and the other is Siberia. The Icelandic birds come to Ireland and the UK whilst the Siberian birds migrate to Eastern Europe. The occasional Siberian bird finishes up on the east coast of England.

There can be up to 50 Whooper swans wintering on Dunalastair Water. They feed on water weed and water snails. One year a pair stayed and attempted to nest on Lochan Daim. They built a nest but failed to raise young.

The Whooper swan can be distinguished from the larger Mute swan by its yellow beak - the Mute swan has an orange beak. The Whooper swan usually swims with its neck held straight up while the Mute swan usually has a curved neck. The Mute swan, as the name suggests is largely silent apart from a few hisses, but the Whooper swan has a delightful honking call the echoed evocatively across the Glen. In Britain there is another species, the Bewick’s swan that has a yellow beak but is a lot smaller than the Whooper swan and does not occur in Rannoch.

Whooper swans are most at risk from flying into power lines and from lead shot used but shooters. The lead is swallowed and poisons the swan.

Creative Commons - credit Dick Daniels

Creative Commons - credit Wald1siedel