Mute Swan – an ignored beauty

I was just browsing through my iPhoto library and I realised that I have almost no photos of the Mute Swan (Cygnus olor). In fact, I have way more photos of Whooping Swans (Cygnus cygnus) – a species I almost never see – than of Mute Swans. Now, I suppose this is almost forgiveable, or at least understandable, because, to put it mildly, I just get way more excited about Whooper Swans than Mute Swans.

But none of my local birds here in the Alps got quite so neglected as the Blackbird (Turdus merula) – I do not seem to have a single photo of a Blackbird in my library. That is just plain embarrassing and I am going to have to do something about that.

Anyhow, back to the swans.

So, last winter I was out at Achensee, a huge Alpine lake and we came across a pair of Mute Swans in wonderful, dim evening light and I was absolutely captivated by the light, the colours, and the subtlety of the swans. For (almost) the largest flying bird on planet earth, “subtlety” is not a word one would think of using all to often with them. Anyhow, I thought I would share some of the photos from that day:

So, the next time you see these park swans, take a moment to appreciate them. Oh, and here is a photo of Achensee, encircled by the peaks of the Karwendel mountain range.

Happy birding,

Dale Forbes