Swans – The Mutes | George Langman Sanctuary

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Mute Swans

The current pair of mute swans are new to the sanctuary this year. Last year, the sanctuary lost one of the pair they had, and the remaining swan was given to a breeder in exchange for this pair. This pair produced babies (cygnets) this year – the female laid 7 eggs in the nest (a clutch), and there are 5 hatchlings (see the photo galleries and videos). The male swan is called a “cob” and the female a “pen”. During mating season the male is territorial (that means he doesn’t want any other’s around) and protects the female and nest.

On June 19th (2009) we visited the sanctuary just after our evening meal (this is customary for us – early morning, or early evening is usually the best time to visit), taking along a bag full of lettuce leaves to feed the swans and and bunnies. As I reached the mute swan compound I noted the babies were close to the fence with the parents; normally they are in the pond with mamma. I bent down low and tore up some lettuce into smaller pieces to be able to poke it through the chain link to the babies. I was rather focused on the lettuce and the babies, and didn’t notice the mother swan getting ready to attack.

With the previous pair of swans, the male was almost always trying to grab my clothing through the fence, but the female was very mild-mannered. This is not the case with this new pair. The male stood quietly while the female (unnoticed by me) lifted her wing and gave a mighty blow to the fence, knocking me backwards. This is the first time the mutes have shown aggression towards me.

I backed away and watched her for a few minutes, realizing that being down low, on the babies level might have alarmed her. I stood and moved slightly back towards the fence, tossing the lettuce over it. She watched, but quickly moved back to the fence and tried to grab the lettuce as I tossed it. I couldn’t figure this out, since we had not had this problem previously. Some of the information I’ve read over the last few years indicates that swans have a tendency to remember people who are kind to them (wive’s tale maybe?) and we had fed her at her nest numerous times. The pair even allowed me to photograph the eggs while she turned them, the male standing next to me inside the fence while I did so, but he didn’t hiss or attack, he just stood by to make sure I wasn’t doing anything harmful.

I moved a little closer to the fence, making sure I wasn’t leaning on it, and took a large, fairly long piece of lettuce and held it up for the female swan. Either she was angry, or frightened and she stood full-on on one of the cygnets in order to get to me. I hadn’t ever seen this behaviour before (though I’m no swan expert, I will admit.) Standing fully upright with her neck and head raised, her head comes just past the top of the fence. She grabbed the lettuce and just as I let go, she let go, and bit me instead. My thumb and first two fingers…and it smarted, but she didn’t break the skin. After that, she just stood while I fed them the rest of the lettuce.

I’m not really sure what that was all about, but parents – do not let your children stick their fingers through the fence in the swan compound. Particularly when the babies are near. Take care to be respectful of the swans.

Swans eat acquatic plants, corn, greens (like lettuce), and sometimes small acquatic animals. For more information on mute swans see the links below: