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59-622: Alpsee is a popular tourist attraction, given its proximity to the castles and the wild swans that inhabit the lake. Boats are available for rent and there is a wide variety of hiking trails in the vicinity. A circular path leads around the shore, and the "Fürstenstrasse" (Princes' Road) leads from Hohenschwangau over the Schwarzenberg ridge ( Ammergau Alps ) and down to Pinswang in the Lechtal . [REDACTED] Media related to Alpsee at Wikimedia Commons This Bavaria location article

118-463: A stork and some large bird of unknown affinity (due to the bad state of preservation of the referred material). Many of the cultural aspects refer to the mute swan of Europe. Perhaps the best-known story about a swan is the fairy tale " The Ugly Duckling ". Swans are often a symbol of love or fidelity because of their long-lasting, apparently monogamous relationships. See Wagner 's famous swan-related operas Lohengrin and Parsifal . Swan meat

177-420: A clutch size of 4 to 7, and an incubation period of 34–45 days. Swans are highly protective of their nests. They will viciously attack anything that they perceive as a threat to their chicks, including humans. One man was suspected to have drowned in such an attack. Swans' intraspecific aggressive behaviour is shown more frequent than interspecific behaviour for food and shelter. The aggression with other species

236-471: A distinct subfamily, Cygninae . There are six living and many extinct species of swan; in addition, there is a species known as the coscoroba swan which is no longer considered one of the true swans . Swans usually mate for life , although separation sometimes occurs, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the remaining swan will take up with another. The number of eggs in each clutch ranges from three to eight. The genus Cygnus

295-473: A distinctive motif. The black swan's role in Australian heraldry and culture extends to the first founding of the colonies in the eighteenth century. It has often been equated with antipodean identity, the contrast to the white swan of the northern hemisphere indicating 'Australianness'. The black swan is featured on the flag, and is both the state bird and state emblem of Western Australia ; it also appears in

354-425: A greyish-brown with pale-edged feathers. Mature black swans measure between 110 and 142 centimetres (43 and 56 in) in length and weigh 3.7–9 kilograms (8.2–19.8 lb). Their wing span is between 1.6 and 2 metres (5.2 and 6.6 ft). The neck is long (relatively the longest neck among the swans) and curved in an "S"-shape. The black swan utters a musical and far reaching bugle-like sound, called either on

413-579: A heavy focus on the mesmerising characteristics of the swan. Yeats also recounts the myth of Leda and the Swan in the poem of the same name . In Norse mythology , two swans drink from the sacred Well of Urd in the realm of Asgard , home of the gods . According to the Prose Edda , the water of this well is so pure and holy that all things that touch it turn white, including this original pair of swans and all others descended from them. The poem Volundarkvida , or

472-480: A native rather than exotic species, although the present population appears to be largely descended from deliberate introductions. The black swan is also very popular as an ornamental waterbird in western Europe , especially Britain , and escapees are commonly reported. As yet, the population in Britain is not considered to be self-sustaining and so the species is not afforded admission to the official British List, but

531-584: A related species of swan known as the New Zealand swan had developed there, but was apparently hunted to extinction . In 1864, the Australian black swan was introduced to New Zealand as an ornamental waterfowl and populations are now common on larger coastal or inland lakes, especially Rotorua Lakes , Lake Wairarapa , Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora , and the Chatham Islands . Black swans have also naturally flown to New Zealand, leading scientists to consider them

590-564: A sarcastic reference to a good woman being a "rare bird, as rare on earth as a black swan" (black swans being completely unknown in the Northern Hemisphere until Dutch explorers reached Australia in the 1600s), from which comes the Latin phrase rara avis (rare bird). The Irish legend of the Children of Lir is about a stepmother who transformed her children into swans for 900 years. In

649-561: A swan who was devoted to him. In Latin American literature , the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío (1867–1916) consecrated the swan as a symbol of artistic inspiration by drawing attention to the constancy of swan imagery in Western culture , beginning with the rape of Leda and ending with Wagner 's Lohengrin . Darío's most famous poem in this regard is Blasón – "Coat of Arms" (1896), and his use of

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708-416: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Swan 6 living, see text . Cygnanser Kretzoi , 1957 Swans are birds of the genus Cygnus within the family Anatidae . The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks . Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini . Sometimes, they are considered

767-453: Is a large waterbird , a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia . Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent on climatic conditions. It is a large bird with black plumage and a red bill . It is a monogamous breeder, with both partners sharing incubation and cygnet -rearing duties. The black swan

826-465: Is a regional symbol of both Western Australia , where it is native, and the English town of Dawlish , where it is an introduced species. Black swans are black-feathered birds, with white flight feathers. The bill is bright red, with a pale bar and tip; and legs and feet are greyish-black. Cobs (males) are slightly larger than pens (females), with a longer and straighter bill. Cygnets (immature birds) are

885-489: Is completely black except for the white flight feathers on its wings; the chicks of black swans are light grey. The South American black-necked swan has a white body with a black neck. The legs of most swans are typically a dark blackish-grey colour, except for the South American black-necked swan, which has pink legs. Bill colour varies: the four subarctic species have black bills with varying amounts of yellow, and all

944-572: Is marked by ritualised displays by both sexes. If eggs accidentally roll out of the nest both sexes will retrieve the egg using the neck (in other swan species only the female performs this feat). Like all swans, black swans will aggressively defend their nests with their wings and beaks. After hatching, the cygnets are tended by the parents for about nine months until fledging. Cygnets may ride on their parent's back for longer trips into deeper water, but black swans undertake this behaviour less frequently than mute and black-necked swans. The black swan

1003-506: Is popularly believed the British monarch is the only person allowed to eat swans in the United Kingdom. Swans feature strongly in mythology . In Greek mythology , the story of Leda and the Swan recounts that Helen of Troy was conceived in a union of Zeus disguised as a swan and Leda , Queen of Sparta . Other references in classical literature include the belief that, upon death,

1062-615: Is protected in New South Wales, Australia under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (s.5). The Black Swan is fully protected in all states and territories of Australia and must not be shot. It is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The black swan was a literary or artistic image among Europeans even before their arrival in Australia. Cultural reference has been based on symbolic contrast and as

1121-700: Is shown more in tundra swans . Evidence suggests that the genus Cygnus evolved in Europe or western Eurasia during the Miocene , spreading all over the Northern Hemisphere until the Pliocene . When the southern species branched off is not known. The mute swan is closest to the Southern Hemisphere Cygnus ; its habits of carrying the neck curved (not straight) and the wings fluffed (not flush) as well as its bill colour and knob indicate that its closest living relative

1180-708: Is so well associated with the town that the bird has been the town's emblem for forty years. There are also wild populations in Japan , having originally been imported during 1950–1960. Black swans have been reported in Florida , but there is no evidence that they are breeding; persistent sightings may be due to continual releases or escapes. Orange County, California reported black swans in Lake Forest , Irvine and Newport Beach on October 5, 2020, and Santa Ana in December 2021 in

1239-500: Is some evidence that the black-necked swan is migratory over part of its range, but detailed studies have not established whether these movements are long or short-range migration. Swans feed in water and on land. They are almost entirely herbivorous, although they may eat small amounts of aquatic animals. In the water, food is obtained by up-ending or dabbling, and their diet is composed of the roots, tubers, stems and leaves of aquatic and submerged plants. A familiar behaviour of swans

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1298-473: Is that they mate for life, and typically bond even before they reach sexual maturity. Trumpeter swans, for example, can live as long as 24 years and only start breeding at the age of 4–7, forming monogamous pair bonds as early as 20 months. "Divorce", though rare, does occur; one study of mute swans shows a 3% rate for pairs that breed successfully and 9% for pairs that do not. The pair bonds are maintained year-round, even in gregarious and migratory species like

1357-667: Is the black swan. Given the biogeography and appearance of the subgenus Olor, it seems likely that these are of a more recent origin, as evidenced shows by their modern ranges (which were mostly uninhabitable during the last ice age ) and great similarity between the taxa. C. melancoryphus (Black-necked swan) C. atratus (Latham, 1790) (Black swan) C. olor (Gmelin, 1789) (Mute swan) C. buccinator Richardson, 1832 (Trumpeter swan) C. cygnus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Whooper swan) C. columbianus (Ord, 1815) (Tundra swan) Genus Cygnus The coscoroba swan ( Coscoroba coscoroba ) from South America,

1416-519: Is to be in the world without getting attached to it, just as a swan's feather does not get wet although it is in water. The Sanskrit word for swan is hamsa and the "Raja Hamsam" or the Royal Swan is the vehicle of Devi Saraswati , which symbolises the Sattva Guna or purity par excellence. The swan, if offered a mixture of milk and water, is said to be able to drink the milk alone. Therefore, Saraswati,

1475-402: Is uncommon in central and northern Australia. The black swan's preferred habitat extends across fresh, brackish and salt water lakes, swamps and rivers with underwater and emergent vegetation for food and nesting materials. It also favors permanent wetlands , including ornamental lakes, but can also be found in flooded pastures and tidal mudflats, and occasionally on the open sea near islands or

1534-539: Is unlike any other Australian bird, although in poor light and at long range it may be confused with a magpie goose in flight. However, the black swan can be distinguished by its much longer neck and slower wing beat. One captive population of black swans in Lakeland, Florida has produced a few individuals which are a light mottled grey colour instead of black. White black swans are also known to exist; these individuals, which are leucistic , are believed to occur rarely in

1593-555: The Latin word cygnus , a variant form of cycnus ' swan ' , itself from the Greek κύκνος kýknos , a word of the same meaning. An adult male is a cob , from Middle English cobbe (leader of a group); an adult female is a pen . A group of swans is called a bevy or a wedge. Swans are the largest extant members of the waterfowl family Anatidae and are among the largest flying birds. The largest living species, including

1652-806: The Lay of Volund , part of the Poetic Edda , also features swan maidens. In the Finnish epic Kalevala , a swan lives in the Tuoni River located in Tuonela , the underworld realm of the dead. According to the story, whoever killed a swan would perish as well. Jean Sibelius composed the Lemminkäinen Suite based on the Kalevala , with the second piece entitled Swan of Tuonela (Tuonelan joutsen) . Today, five flying swans are

1711-702: The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust have recorded a maximum of nine breeding pairs in the UK in 2001, with an estimate of 43 feral birds in 2003–2004. A small population of black swans exists on the River Thames at Marlow , on the brook running through the small town of Dawlish in Devon , near the River Itchen, Hampshire , and the River Tees near Stockton on Tees . The Dawlish population

1770-504: The mute swan , trumpeter swan , and whooper swan , can reach a length of over 1.5 m (59 in) and weigh over 15 kg (33 lb). Their wingspans can be over 3.1 m (10 ft). Compared to the closely related geese, they are much larger and have proportionally larger feet and necks. Adults also have a patch of unfeathered skin between the eyes and bill. The sexes are alike in plumage , but males are generally bigger and heavier than females. The biggest species of swan ever

1829-481: The tundra swan , which congregate in large flocks in the wintering grounds. Swans' nests are on the ground near water and about a metre (3') across. Unlike many other ducks and geese, the male helps with the nest construction, and will also take turns incubating the eggs. Alongside the whistling ducks , swans are the only anatids that will do this. The average egg size (for the mute swan) is 113 × 74 mm ( 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 x 3 in), weighing 340 g (12 oz), in

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1888-470: The Beef-Pie." Swans being raised for food were sometimes kept in swan pits . The Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady , a religious confraternity which existed in 's-Hertogenbosch in the late Middle Ages, had "sworn members", also called "swan-brethren" because they used to donate a swan for the yearly banquet. Based on a mistaken belief that the British monarch owns all the swans in Britain, it

1947-692: The Pleistocene taxa from North America would be placed in Olor . Several prehistoric species have been described, mostly from the Northern Hemisphere. In the Mediterranean, the leg bones of the giant swan ( C. falconeri ) were found on the islands of Malta and Sicily ; it may have been over 2 metres from tail to bill, which was taller (though not heavier) than the contemporary local dwarf elephants ( Palaeoloxodon falconeri ). The supposed fossil swans "Cygnus" bilinicus and "Cygnus" herrenthalsi were, respectively,

2006-667: The Vedas, swans are said to reside in the summer on Lake Manasarovar and migrate to Indian lakes for the winter. They are believed to possess some powers, such as the ability to eat pearls. Swans are intimately associated with the divine twins in Indo-European religions, and it is thought that in Proto-Indo-European times , swans were a solar symbol associated with the divine twins and the original Indo-European sun goddess . Black swan The black swan ( Cygnus atratus )

2065-434: The care of the nest. A typical clutch contains four to eight greenish-white eggs that are incubated for about 35–40 days. Incubation begins after the laying of the last egg, to synchronise the hatching of the chicks. Prior to the commencement of incubation the parent will sit over the eggs without actually warming them. Both sexes incubate the eggs, with the female incubating at night. The change over between incubation periods

2124-413: The dominant foods. The exact composition varies with water level; in flood situations where normal foods are out of reach black swans will feed on pasture plants on shore. The black swan feeds in a similar manner to other swans. When feeding in shallow water it will dip its head and neck under the water and it is able to keep its head flat against the bottom while keeping its body horizontal. In deeper water

2183-485: The entirety of Africa. One species, the mute swan, has been introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand. Several species are migratory , either wholly or partly so. The mute swan is a partial migrant, being resident over areas of Western Europe but wholly migratory in Eastern Europe and Asia. The whooper swan and tundra swan are wholly migratory, and the trumpeter swans are almost entirely migratory. There

2242-515: The extent of occurrence. The current global population is estimated to be up to 500,000 individuals. No threat of extinction or significant decline in population has been identified with this numerous and widespread bird. Black swans were first seen by Europeans in 1697, when Willem de Vlamingh 's expedition explored the Swan River , Western Australia . Before the arrival of the Māori in New Zealand ,

2301-518: The female after she lays the eggs. Generally, black swans in the Southern hemisphere nest in the wetter winter months (February to September), occasionally in large colonies. A black swan nest is essentially a large heap or mound of reeds, grasses and weeds between 1 and 1.5 metres (3– 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet) in diameter and up to 1 metre high, in shallow water or on islands. A nest is reused every year, restored or rebuilt as needed. Both parents share

2360-578: The goddess of knowledge, is seen riding the swan because the swan thus symbolizes Viveka , i.e. prudence and discrimination between the good and the bad or between the eternal and the transient. This is seen as a great quality, as shown by this Sanskrit verse: It is mentioned several times in the Vedic literature, and persons who have attained great spiritual capabilities are sometimes called Paramahamsa ("Supreme Swan") on account of their spiritual grace and ability to travel between various spiritual worlds. In

2419-594: The knob, which is larger in males and is condition dependent, changing seasonally. Swans are generally found in temperate environments, rarely occurring in the tropics. Four (or five) species occur in the Northern Hemisphere , one species is found in Australia, one extinct species was found in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands , and one species is distributed in southern South America. They are absent from tropical Asia, Central America, northern South America and

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2478-562: The legend The Wooing of Etain the king of the Sidhe (subterranean-dwelling, supernatural beings) transforms himself and the most beautiful woman in Ireland, Etain, into swans to escape from the king of Ireland and Ireland's armies. The swan has recently been depicted on an Irish commemorative coin . Swans are also present in Irish literature in the poetry of W. B. Yeats . "The Wild Swans at Coole" has

2537-455: The mute swan would sing beautifully—hence the phrase swan song . The mute swan is also one of the sacred birds of Apollo , whose associations stem both from the nature of the bird as a symbol of light, as well as the notion of a "swan song". The god is often depicted riding a chariot pulled by or composed of swans in his ascension from Delos . In the second century, the Roman poet Juvenal made

2596-402: The only species in its genus, is not a true swan. Its phylogenetic position is not fully resolved; it is in some aspects more similar to geese and shelducks . The fossil record of the genus Cygnus is quite impressive, although allocation to the subgenera is often tentative; as indicated above, at least the early forms probably belong to the C. olor – Southern Hemisphere lineage, whereas

2655-427: The others are patterned red and black. Although birds do not have teeth, swans, like other Anatidae, have beaks with serrated edges that look like small jagged "teeth" as part of their beaks used for catching and eating aquatic plants and algae, but also molluscs, small fish, frogs, and worms. In the mute swan and black-necked swan, both sexes have a fleshy lump at the base of their bills on the upper mandible , known as

2714-526: The shore. The black swan was once thought to be sedentary, but is now known to be highly nomadic. There is no set migratory pattern, but rather opportunistic responses to either rainfall or drought. In high rainfall years, emigration occurs from the south west and south east into the interior, with a reverse migration from these heartlands in drier years. When rain does fall in the arid central regions, black swans will migrate to these areas to nest and raise their young. However, should dry conditions return before

2773-762: The swan made it a symbol for the Modernismo poetic movement that dominated Spanish language poetry from the 1880s until the First World War. Such was the dominance of Modernismo in Spanish language poetry that the Mexican poet Enrique González Martínez attempted to announce the end of Modernismo with a sonnet provocatively entitled, Tuércele el cuello al cisne – "Wring the Swan's Neck" (1910). Swans are revered in Hinduism and are compared to saintly persons whose chief characteristic

2832-466: The swan up-ends to reach lower. Black swans are also able to filter feed at the water's surface. Like other swans, the black swan is largely monogamous , pairing for life (about 6% divorce rate). Recent studies have shown that around a third of all broods exhibit extra-pair paternity . An estimated one-quarter of all pairings are homosexual , mostly between males. They steal nests, or form temporary threesomes with females to obtain eggs, driving away

2891-460: The symbol of the Nordic countries ; the whooper swan ( Cygnus cygnus ) is the national bird of Finland; and the mute swan is the national bird of Denmark. The ballet Swan Lake is among the most canonic of classical ballets. Based on the 1875–76 score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , the most promulgated choreographic version was created by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov (1895), the premiere of which

2950-512: The water or in flight, as well as a range of softer crooning notes. It can also whistle, especially when disturbed while breeding and nesting. When swimming, black swans hold their necks arched or erect and often carry their feathers or wings raised in an aggressive display. In flight, a wedge of black swans will form as a line or a V, with the individual birds flying strongly with undulating long necks, making whistling sounds with their wings and baying, bugling or trumpeting calls. The black swan

3009-606: The wild. The black swan is common in the wetlands of southwestern and eastern Australia and adjacent coastal islands. In the south west its range encompasses an area between North West Cape , Cape Leeuwin and Eucla ; while in the east it covers a large region bounded by the Atherton Tableland , the Eyre Peninsula and Tasmania , with the Murray Darling Basin supporting very large populations of black swans. It

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3068-436: The young have been raised, the adult birds will abandon the nests and their eggs or cygnets and return to wetter areas. The black swan, like many other water fowl, loses all its flight feathers at once when it moults after breeding and is unable to fly for about a month. During this time it will usually settle on large, open waters for safety. The species has a large range, with figures between 1 and 10 million km given as

3127-635: The “Versailles on the Lake” apartment community. The "Lake Forest Keys” community bought the original swans about eight to ten years ago and since then there have been many births and gaggles from the original couple" according to a report in the Orange County Register . Black swans formerly resided in the vicinity of Lake Junaluska , a large lake in Waynesville, North Carolina . Black swans can also be found in mainland China. In 2018, one group of swans

3186-622: Was danced by the Imperial Ballet at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. The ballet's lead dual roles of Odette (white swan)/Odile (black swan) represent good and evil and are among the most challenging roles created in Romantic classical ballet. The ballet is in the repertories of ballet companies around the world. A swan is one of the attributes of St. Hugh of Lincoln , based on the story of

3245-566: Was introduced in 1764 by the French naturalist François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault . The English word swan , akin to the German Schwan , Dutch zwaan and Swedish svan , is derived from the Indo-European root *swen ( H ) ( ' to sound, to sing ' ). Young swans are known as cygnets , from Old French cigne or cisne (diminutive suffix et ' little ' ), from

3304-652: Was introduced to the Shenzhen University campus on an artificial lake in Guangdong Province . The black swan is almost exclusively herbivorous, and while there is some regional and seasonal variation, the diet is generally dominated by aquatic and marshland plants. In New South Wales the leaf of reedmace (genus Typha ) is the most important food of birds in wetlands, followed by submerged algae and aquatic plants such as Vallisneria . In Queensland, aquatic plants such as Potamogeton , stoneworts, and algae are

3363-511: Was introduced to various countries as an ornamental bird in the 1800s, but has managed to escape and form stable populations. Described scientifically by English naturalist John Latham in 1790, the black swan was formerly placed into a monotypic genus, Chenopis . Black swans can be found singly, or in loose companies numbering into the hundreds or even thousands. It is a popular bird in zoological gardens and bird collections, and escapees are sometimes seen outside their natural range. This bird

3422-557: Was regarded as a luxury food in England during the reign of Elizabeth I . A recipe for baked swan survives from that time: "To bake a Swan Scald it and take out the bones, and parboil it, then season it very well with Pepper, Salt and Ginger, then lard it, and put it in a deep Coffin of Rye Paste with store of Butter, close it and bake it very well, and when it is baked, fill up the Vent-hole with melted Butter, and so keep it; serve it in as you do

3481-514: Was the extinct Cygnus falconeri , a flightless giant swan known from fossils found on the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Sicily . Its disappearance is thought to have resulted from extreme climate fluctuations or the arrival of superior predators and competitors. The Northern Hemisphere species of swan have pure white plumage, but the Southern Hemisphere species are mixed black and white. The Australian black swan ( Cygnus atratus )

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