Bird of the week - Whooper swan

The whooper swans above were on the River Coquet between Warkworth and Amble.  I also watched a group of a dozen or so fly in to Cresswell Pond the other day.  The sight, and especially the sound, was thrilling as they flew low over the road towards the water.  True to form, they landed right in the middle of the water and swam across to join others on the far side so this, below, was the best photo I could get.

I have also seen whoopers on the sea at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

This photo shows a whooper swan in front and a mute swan, with a greylag goose for size comparison.

Whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) are winter visitors from Iceland, arriving in October and returning to their breeding grounds in April.

Very occasionally one stays behind, such as this bird I saw at Killingworth last May.  I expect it was not yet of breeding age and couldn't be bothered to make the round trip if it wasn't going to mate.  Or maybe it was carrying an injury.

Thomas Bewick made this engraving for A History of British Birds vol II (1832).  He called the mute swan "The Tame Swan".

Archibald Thorburn painted Bewick's (back left), whooper and mute swans.

Sir Peter Scott painted these whoopers in flight.

The slightly melancholy bugling call of the whooper swan is thought to be behind the myth that swans sing just before they die (hence "swan song").  The song of the whooper swan inspired and is incorporated into the third movement of Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) which you can listen to here.

You can listen to whooper swans here.  Listen to Chris Packham's BBC Radio 4 Tweet of the Day here.  Watch a few short BBC Nature videos on whooper swans here.  And watch a BTO video on Bewick's, whooper and mute swan identification here.