Featured animal: Mute swan (Cygnus olor)
Photo credit: None
Location: Europe and Americas mostly. One stray reported in Gujarat last year.
The exotic Mute Swan is the elegant bird of Russian ballets and European fairy tales. It is a large white water bird and it has a long S-shaped neck and an orange bill with a black base and a black knob. Adult mute swans are usually silent as their name suggests, although they are vocal when they are courting. The mute swan is one of the heaviest flying birds. All mute swans are white at maturity, though the feathers (particularly on the head and neck) are often stained orange-brown by iron and tannins in the water.[Young birds, called cygnets, are not the bright white of mature adults, and their bill is dull greyish-black, not orange, for the first year. If you have heard the fairy tale called the ugly duckling, you will recognize this fact.
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