In the Tralee Bay Wetlands Ecology & Lakeside Cafe you can find a pair of Mute Swans (Cygnus olor), who mostly stay on the front pond island. A well-known bird of wetland habitats, they can be found all over Ireland in ponds, rivers, lakes and canals and will even stay in temporarily flooded lands. The male, known as a ‘cob’, is a bit bigger with a large black knob on its bill. This swells during the breeding season and becomes noticeably larger than the females. Females are a smaller version of the male.
Firstly, the male and female pick a place to build their nest and begin their family. The nest is usually located closely to a water’s edge, being created out of aquatic plants such as reeds and other vegetation, as well as sticks and rushes. The nest is built by the female, while the male gathers materials for the nest.
Once the nest is complete, the female will lay 4-7 eggs between late April and early May. Both male and female incubate the eggs, which hatch after 35 days. You can seen a pair of Swans with their 9 Cygnets on the Lake currently, be sure to visit soon if you haven't seen already. Cygnets are generally brown with some white on their tummy. Sometimes they can be completely white. They are short-necked and thickly downed and can run and swim a few hours after hatching. During this time, cygnets will eat insects, small molluscs, and freshwater shrimp. After a few weeks, the young swans start to include more plant matter into their diet before assuming a full diet after the first month. Their full diet consists of aquatic vegetation, including pondweed in freshwater bodies and eelgrass, tassleweeds and green algae in salt water. However, on land they will feed on grass and crops, including winter cereals.
The male swan takes responsibility for protecting the cygnets from predators. He scares off predators such as mink, herons, and birds of prey.
Once the cygnets become more confident, they will ride on their parents' backs, sitting on their backs betwen the adults rested wings. This makes a perfect scene for a perfect photo!
After a few months of practicing, the cygnets will be able to fly, but they will not leave their parents’ sides for another year. In the meantime, both parents will teach them all the skills they need to know, such as how to feed, how to protect themselves, and so on.
Come late Autumn or the beginning of Winter, the now young adults will have their full plumage, which is predominantly white. At this time, the young will either stay put in their home with their parents, or they will leave to Winter in places such as Middle Eastern countries. Many of the Irish Mute Swan population stays in Ireland for Winter but some do leave to Winter abroad. The term ‘Winter’ or ‘Wintering’ refers to a species leaving a place to spend the winter in a particular place, usually to a much warmer continent. They will then come back later once Winter has passed.
As the cygnets have arrived at Tralee Bay Wetlands Ecology Park & Lakeside Cafe, we must ask that if you wish to feed the parent swans, it is recommended to feed them small amounts of oats, peas, or corn, not bread as the nutritional value of bread is not a good match for the needs of wild birds. It's deficient in amino acids, fatty acids and several vitamins and minerals, but full of carbohydrates and salt – all the stuff birds don't need.
