Swan Aggression (2 Viewers)

[simondix]

Some of you will be aware of my philandering Mute Swan orange darvic 2TU down the bottom of my road from previous threads.

He is now with his real mate and six cygnets. Last night I watched him methodically hunt down a family of Canada Geese and he killed at least two of the nearly full grown goslings.

The Canada Goose parents were not much help and did not lead the young to safely.

Those of you familiar with the canal at Worcester may well remember 2TU's father. He was orange darvic SXG. He was very aggressive and used to attack and kill anything smaller than himself. He used to attack people as well. Very brave.

It obviously works as he died in his late twenties. A venerable old rogue.

Like father like son?

 

[Andrew]

There is a Swan on the local canal here that will lift his wings and follow walkers for a long stretch of the canal hissing at them!

 

[StevieEvans]

Have had similar behaviour,

Male wouldnt let any other swans settle on his large lake, he would especially pick on the Canadas, sometimes killing goslings, but also Mallard & Coot chicks - of no threat at all to him.

Most he would peck till dead but some, mostly small chicks would appear to be drowned on purpose.

Anyone familiar with the saying " got a Cob on" wonder if this is were it originates from.... a serious Bad Mood....?

 

[walwyn]

Wasn't there one out Worcester way last year that killed 4 or 6 other swans/cygnets on his stretch of the river by drowning them. Apparently grabbed hold of their neck and held the head under water. Eventually they got the RSPCA in to remove it. Might have been either Redditch or Evesham.

At Welney last year a Whooper Swan got annoyed with a youngster and chased it for a number of minutes trying to hold its head under water. It eventualy escaped. The Welney staff say that there can be altracations between Whoopers and Pochards, but the Pochards can last under water longer than the Whooper.

Today at Rutland a Mute Swan was having a go at a coot. Its technique was to try and sit on it in the shallows, after six attempts the coot managed to get to deep water.

 

[Andrew]

Did someone hold a Whooper and a Pochard under water to find out!?

 

[Michael Frankis]

One tip to remember if you're ever attacked by a Mute Swan . . .

In fights between themselves, they size up the opponent by who can hiss the loudest.

So if one attacks you, start hissing back at it louder than it hisses at you. It'll back off, believing you are the stronger opponent.

It works, I've tried it several times when helping someone catching swans for ringing [banding].

Michael

 

[Edward]

I've always thought it is strange that Mute Swans are so aggressive as they are so huge that you think that would be enough.
I've not had the same experience as Walwyn with regard Whooper Swans which are common breeders here. I think Mutes are far worse. There is one water bird in Iceland which outdoes them all and that is Great Northern Diver. They do not seem to tolerate any waterfowl on their lakes, unless the lake is very large, and can drive away Whooper Swans I believe. They also drown ducks and even skewer them from below (so I've read). I was at a breeding site last Friday night and there were three small lakes, two of them with plenty of ducks Wigeon, Mallard, Eider, Tufted Duck. The other had no wildfowl but a pair of Great Northern Divers. I'm sure those red eyes and the maniacal laughing is enough to drive off anything. Red-throated Divers are much better neighbous though and are quite happy to share.

E

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Edward,

That's probably because Whoopers have more fear of people than Mutes do - more recent history of being hunted. Muts just think people are something that can be intimidated into throwing bread at them.

I've heard tell that in a Whooper vs Mute battle, the Whooper usually wins.

Michael

 

[walwyn]

I've always found that Mute Swans tend to do a lot of hissing at people but little else. I've not known them to attack humans.

The domestic geese on the village pond used to be a real menace and would bite anyone that walked past, (I've not seen them since Xmas 2001 though), the only way to deal with them was to hold them firmly at the back of the neck and lead them, hissing, back to the pond.

The local country park has a number of Canadian Geese and its interesting to watching them eye up newly arriving toddlers. I've seen on a couple of occassions a parent with small child clutching plastic bag, walk across the grass towards the waters edge, become surround by 20-30 Geese in a matter of seconds, some flying in from the reservour to get first pickings.

The look on both parent and child's faces as a 20 Geese come swarm out of the water towards them, with 3 or 4 flying straight at them at head height is always a picture.

 

[simondix]

2TU's father was always veryaggressive, especially as he got a load of trouble from yobs. If there was anything like line on him in the summer we would just get one of the cygnets and he would come barging in. 2TU cracked my rib a few years ago whilst I was catching him to remove some line. I've had a few bruises off him whilst getting line off the cygnets.

 

[pduxon]

when I was at Clumber a male swan was attacking any baby mallard it found chasing them around for minutes. Luckily the females managed to save their young

 

[andythomas]

Although my local reservoir is quite big, there's only ever room for one male Mute Swan. He even sees off any Canada Geese that dare to appear.

Last year a pair of swans raised six cygnets, but shortly after they fledged the male disappeared (rumoured to have been killed by a speedboat).

The remaining seven stayed and were joined at the start of this year by eight other females and juveniles. It was great to see such a large flock of swans every day, but a few months later a male arrived and chased them all away.

Now he's moved on and I've got a swanless reservoir.

 

[StevieEvans]

quick run....!

Walwyn / All

When we were kids, it was only the real hardcases who would dare try for a Mute Swans egg !

Go near a swans nest & you'll definately see it Attack humans !

The old stories are that a "swan can break your limbs with one 'whack' from its wing"

Anyone else heard of that ?

I had a cob skim my leg earlier this year, while i was squeezing past a family group on a dirt track, realy aggressive prior to this, with hissing & wing opening/beating...

Stevie

 

[walwyn]

Ok I assume that when provoked, or defending its young a mute swan like most animals will attack. But on the whole they don't tend to attack just because you are walking nearby.

I've heard the old story about a swan breaking a man's leg with its wing, and it gets repeated often as a fact, but I've never found a documented incidence. The nearest has been a swan breaking a childs arm.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-24008,00.html

The subject came up at Welney last year and the staff said the swans could cause bruising but it would take a blow more powerful than that which could be delivered by a swans wing, to break an adults leg.

The story was first told to me by my mother when I was a small child, and I've never known her to be knowledgeable about anything to do with wildlife. Of course that doesn't make the story untrue but I reckon it was designed to frighten you away.

 

[Aitch]

We have two lakes at Longton Brickcroft and used to get a family of Mutes on eack one. Psycho, the swan on south lake, used to walk during moulting) across to the north lake, some 400 yards and kill the other cygnets. He did this for about 3 years until some b.....d mutilated his wings and those of his pen. He had to be put down. There are still two families and there's no bother now but Psycho was character.
H