Mute Swan, Cygnus olor
Mute Swans, captive, males facing off, 8/6/05, Stratford, Ontario
Mute Swans, captive, adult males facing off, 8/6/05, Avon River, Stratford, Ontario
Mute Swan, captive male, 8/6/05, Avon River, Stratford, Ontario
Mute swans are not native to North America, but wild populations are widely established; the two birds at the bottom of the page are a wild pair. The rest of the pictures show captive birds, with clipped wings, part of a population that has lived for decades on the Avon River in Stratford, Ontario, home of the famous theater festival. A friend of mine, told I was taking my camera with me to Stratford to photograph the swans, suggested that captive swan photography was maybe "a bit kitschy." Indeed, but I'm a sucker for avian kitsch. The Stratford swans are captive, but they breed and raise young, and the two males in the first pictures are rivals engaged in an agonistic ritual that can erupt into violence.
Mute Swan, captive male, 8/6/05, Avon River, Stratford, Ontario
Mute Swan, 8/16/06, Stratford, Ontario
Mute Swan, 8/17/06, Stratford, Ontario
Mute Swan, 8/16/06, Stratford, Ontario
Mute Swan, 7/25/07, Stratford, Ontario
Mute Swans, adult with two young, 7/25/07, Stratford, Ontario
Immature swans ("cygnets") come in two color morphs -- white (above) and gray-brown (below). Both morphs can be found in the same clutch; the bird below was one of five young birds accompanying an adult swan, the others all white morph.
Mute Swan, juvenile, gray-brown morph, 8/14/08, Avon River, Stratford, Ontario
Mute Swan, pinioned displaying, 8/14/08, Avon River, Stratford, Ontario
A displaying male swan (or "cob") shows the effect of pinioning -- the outermost bones of the right wing were removed, restricting the bird's primaries, and limiting its ability to fly. The left wing is intact.
Mute Swans, 11/13/04, Shollenberger Park, Petaluma, Sonoma Co
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