Swans are waterfowl and belong to the family Anatidae, which also contains ducks, geese, and loons. These birds are known for their pure white feathers and graceful appearance and can be found in habitats like wetlands, swamps, lakes, ponds, and flooded grasslands. In this article we will talk about the nesting habits until the swan’s birth!
Swan Nesting Habits
Once swans find their mate, they’ll likely showcase courtship behavior, and start breeding, while some swan pairs tend to have a “honeymoon phase” before their first nesting year. The nesting period starts around mid-March or April, in a safe territory chosen by the female, where the future baby swans have the best shot at survival.
Commonly, swans will nest in locations with slight elevations, primarily near the water. The nesting site needs to provide a stable food and water supply. That’s why many swans build nests on islands, in dams, or near water edges.
Both female and male swans collect grasses, algae, sedges, aquatic vegetation, and debris to make the nest. The building process takes around 2 weeks to complete. If this is not the breeding pair’s first breeding season, they might reuse their old nest if it was successful the last time, while first-time breeders build new nests.
What do swan eggs look like?
After the female lays the eggs, they’re blue-grayish, although the color shifts after the eggs spend some time in the nest. After a while, the eggs will get an olive color, and they can get scratches on the surface as the parents commonly stand on them or move them around in the nest.
Swan eggs are around 10 to 12.6 cm long (4 to 5in) and 6 to 8 cm wide (2.4 to 3.2in). The eggs have a stony-white texture, and some may have a bluish tinge. Swan eggs are incubated for around 35 to 41 days, after which they’ll begin to hatch over a 24 to 48 hour period.
A Baby Swan Is Born!
After their epic struggle to break free from the egg, the cygnets are still covered in a waxy layer that surrounded it whilst in the egg, shielding it from various liquids that were contained inside.
This waxy coating gives them their wet look that they have when they’ve just hatched, but it soon disappears over the next few hours as it dries and some of it rubs off, when they push themselves against their mother and over the nest material.
Once dry, the baby swan takes on that light grey, fluffy appearance that makes cygnets look so appealing to onlookers.
The weight of the cygnet at the time of hatchling is about 64% of the weight of the egg when it was first laid (the missing 36% is accounted for in the weight of the egg shell, membranes, liquids/moisture and losses due to metabolism) and 2.5% of its final weight, when it’s an adult.
The young remain together in groups until they turn old enough to search for their mate. Some might even visit their parents after the breeding season as they commonly have a strong sense of family and belonging.
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Video source: Sian L. Whitehead
