Lone cygnet for this Black Swan couple

A pair of Black Swans in my neighbourhood has a single cygnet this year. Baby black swans are so cute! An adorable bundle of grey-cream fluff with black beaks, eyes, and legs:

I don’t know how many eggs there were in the brood, nor how many of them hatched. Alas, baby swans are prey to several natural predators, especially hawks and eagles, as well as to introduced animals like dogs, cats, and foxes.

Here’s the baby and one of the adults, in a lovely mellow lighting:

It’s good to see any young swans at all — I didn’t spot any last year. In fact, I watched a pair of swans devotedly tend their nest for eight months without hatching any eggs! It’s possible they were both males, practising their nesting skills together in the absence of any females. I wrote about their vigil in two posts: part 1 and part 2.

So it’s great to see these two adults looking after the little one:

https://youtu.be/xXo18mgVqMI

Common name: Black Swan
Scientific name: Cygnus atratus
Approximate length of adult bird: 120 cm
Date spotted: 25 November 2025 (spring)
Approximate location: Sydney’s Northern Beaches, New South Wales, Australia

#australia #birds #birdwatching #blackSwans #cygnets #sydneyBirds #waterbirds

#GavinNewsom wants you to come to #California and kill #swans, and has made it legal to shoot them without any license or permit.

A recent #CalMatters report citing state wildlife researchers’ data on #MuteSwans estimated there are more than 12,000 of these 25lb and up orange beaked EU import birds in he state, a ten fold increase in just 3 years.

A study on east coast found they eat up to 8lbs a day of submerged #aquatic vegetation, destroying #habitat and food sources for native species faster than #grasses could ever recover.

https://mendovoice.com/2025/10/mute-swans-now-on-state-fish-and-wildlife-take-list/

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/10/22/californians-shoot-swans-year-round/?share=tichrweory2esepeiata #GiftLink #Cygnets #NonNativeSpecies

My chums, the Union Canal swans on a rather dreich evening yesterday.

I do wish they wouldn't choose the towpath to settle down for preening & naps, I worry some cyclist charging by too fast on an e-bike will hit one (most are careful but there are some zipping along at very high speed with zero concern for pedestrians, other bikes or wildlife).

#nature #wildlife #photography #photographie #Edinburgh #Edimbourg #swans #cygnets #cygnes #birds #oiseaux #UnionCanal #Fountainbridge

Swan family time. The adults steer, the little ones copy every turn, and the light sits softly on the water.
Quiet, simple, beautiful.
Pick a favorite shot and tell me why.

#MuteSwan #Cygnets #Swan #Birds #BirdPhotography #WildlifePhotography #NaturePhotography #Waterfowl #AnimalBehavior #NatureLovers #CanonR5MarkII #CanonPhotography #AMIR2000NLPhotography

#MuteSwan #family outing on the lagoon at #WWTCastleEspie.

#nature #naturephotography #wildlife #bird #birds #waterbirds #swan #cygnets @wwtworldwide @RSPB #NorthernIreland