A Swan's Elegance
by Sandi OReilly
Title
A Swan's Elegance
Artist
Sandi OReilly
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
I happened upon this Swan while visiting a lake. As I was shooting photos a woman approached me and told me she had found this Swan injured when she was young, named her Sarah, and took care of and rehabilitated her. When she was well enough the woman realized Sarah was a male Swan before she set him free. But the Swan stayed around the lake near her house and found a mate. He would stay close to his original home but last year his mate was attacked by dogs and killed, so he returned back to the woman's house on the lake and stayed near by. I hope he finds a new mate this spring.
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Sarah is a Mute Swan. Males are larger than females and have a larger knob on their bill. On average, this is the second largest waterfowl species after the Trumpeter Swan, although male Mute Swans can easily match or even exceed a male Trumpeter in mass.
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The Mute Swan is one of the heaviest flying birds, with males (known as cobs) averaging about 11�12 kg (24�26 lb) and the slightly smaller females (known as pens) weighing about 8.5�9 kg (19�20 lb).[14][4].
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Young birds, called cygnets, are not the bright white of mature adults, and their bill is dull greyish-black, not orange, for the first year. The down may range from pure white to grey to buff, with grey/buff the most common. The white cygnets have a leucistic gene. All Mute Swans are white at maturity, though the feathers (particularly on the head and neck) are often stained orange-brown by iron and tannins in the water.
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Hope you enjoyed viewing this photo and consider adding it to your art collection. For purchases, please view FAA options above. All photography and art by me, Sandi O'Reilly, is all rights reserved. I welcome any questions you might have and you can use FAA email to contact me, glad to help.
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ALL WATERMARKS ARE REMOVED AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE FROM IMAGES. Thank you!
Uploaded
January 13th, 2013
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Viewed 3,893 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 03/28/2024 at 2:55 PM
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Comments (146)
Mr Bennett Kent
A beautiful and detailed study of one of my all time favourite birds. I do love the poignant story about "Sarah" and wish him well with his search for a new mate this year
Brian Tada
What a beautiful close-up portrait of this elegant swan, Sandi! Outstanding presentation! F/L
Linda Lees
Perfect title for this lovely image! Wonderful story to accompany it too, I do hope that he found another mate.
Sandi OReilly
Great comment, Joel :) Don't look!! Thanks so much for them, your congrats and appreciate your Fave/Like!!