MUTE SWAN 

 ( Cygnus olor ) 



[DA: Knopsvane, DU: Knobbelzwaan , EN: White Swan, Polish Swan; FI: Kyhmyjoutsen, 

 FR: Cygne muet , GE: Hockerschwan, IC: Hnudsvanur, IT: Cigno reale, JA: Kobu 

 hakucho, NW: Knoppsvane, PO: Labedz niemy, PR: Cisne bravo, RU: (Hissing Swan), 

 SP: Cisne raudo , Cisne vulgar; SW: Knolsvan] 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



The Mute Swan is a native of Eurasia. Feral populations have become es- 

 tablished in several areas of North America after escape from captive or semi- 

 captive flocks. It is most common in the northeast from New Hampshire to Ches- 

 apeake Bay, but is also well established in Michigan, British Columbia, and 

 western Washington (Bellrose 1976). There are six records of apparently wild 

 birds in North Carolina since 1966 (Potter 1977, Teulings 1977a) but no recent 

 records in South Carolina or Georgia. A seemingly wild bird was seen at Bis- 

 cayne Bay, Florida, in December 1973 (Stevenson 1974); swans are common in cap- 

 tivity in that state, and escapes are to be expected. There are records of oc- 

 currence and occasional nesting in Alabama (Imhof 1976b), but the birds may not 

 have been truly wild. 



Some idea of the spread and increase in numbers of North American Mute 

 Swans can be obtained from the annual Audubon Christmas Counts. Between 1949 

 and 1969 the total number of Mute Swans counted increased from 374 to 1,644 

 birds (Johnsgard 1975). The 1972 Audubon Christmas Count gave a total of 2,135 

 Mute Swans along the Atlantic seaboard from New Hampshire to Maryland. On the 

 Pacific coast, 1,449 were counted, and at Traverse Bay, Michigan (the only 

 major concentration in the Midwest), 390 were counted (Bellrose 1976). 



SUSCEPTIBILITY TO OIL POLLUTION 



According to Beer and Ogilvie (In Scott 1972), the Mute Swan is the only 

 swan which has experienced severe losses to oil pollution. They noted that 

 these swans were killed or contaminated by oil in at least ten British counties 

 over a decade; in one instance 85 of a flock of 100 died. Oiling of Mute Swans 

 has also been reported in Scotland (Dunnet 1974) and elsewhere in Europe; they 

 have also been reported dying from oil in North America (records in the Bird 

 Banding Laboratory, Patuxent , MD). 



Because Mute Swans occur in such small numbers in the southeast , resource 

 development there should pose no hazard to this species. 



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