A EURASIAN MUTE SWAN, AND MEMORIES OF "SAMMY"

EURASIAN MUTE SWAN OFF ASHLAND PARK (note the yellow bill)

...FEEDING ON ROOTED AQUATIC VEGETATION

Wednesday, 9:30 AM.  36 degrees F on the ferry dock, 40 on the back porch.  Wind WSW, calm with occasional light to moderate gusts.  The sky is clear and sunny except for some puffy white clouds on the southern horizon.  The humidity is 89%, after some light rain last night.  The barometer is steady at 29.63", and rain showers are still predicted for tomorrow.

   Over the years we have lived in the Bayfield area, we have occasionally seen one or two Eurasian mute swans,  non-native birds as large or sometimes even larger than the native tundra swan.  Yesterday this single bird was seen swimming and feeding off the Ashland lakefront park on the west end of the city.  It looked like a full grown male, and  he must have lost his mate at some point or never found one.  The easiest way to determine if a swan is native or not is the bill, which is black in the tundra swan, and orange in the mute.

   Mute swans are now considered an invasive species, since they are potential or actual competitors with native swans and other waterfowl.  That said, they are magnificent birds, and I don't know how I feel about them being harassed and their eggs destroyed, as is now the case.  Isn't it interesting how we are judgmental about every species but our own, and expect nature to never change, when nature is nothing if not change personified.  

   Mute swans, particularly the cobs (males) are very territorial and aggressive in defense of their nests and young.  They can weigh over thirty pounds, and can deliver punishing blows with their wing elbows and bills; enough to be threatening even to a grown man, and definitely dangerous to smaller women and to children.  

   At one point in my career in New York I became acquainted with a male swan we called "Sammy," after the serial killer known as "Son of Sam," infamous back in the '70's in New York City.  Among other depredations, Sammy attacked an elderly woman and broke her arm, and once attacked me...from behind, and almost took me down.  All this led to his being relocated to a very large New York City reservoirs. 

   He finally met his demise challenging a speeding automobile on one of the parkways.