Bewick's or whooper swan?

[Ian]

Who can confirm? This was taken last Saturday as the sun was setting at the Welney WWT hide north of Cambridge (highly recommended).

Ian

[OlyPaul]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?

Looks like a Whopper to me Ian but a enlarged section of the bill would allow me to confirm it.

The only two differences are

1-That the Bewick is a lot smaller bird than a Whooper or mute swan.

2- The pattern on the beak is different, if you imagined flattening the beak out then the yellow would resemble the letter W on a Whooper and on a Bewick it resembles the letter B.

[Barr1e]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?

Looks like a Whopper to me Ian but a enlarged section of the bill would allow me to confirm it.

The only two differences are

1-That the Bewick is a lot smaller bird than a Whooper or mute swan.

2- The pattern on the beak is different, if you imagined flattening the beak out then the yellow would resemble the letter W on a Whooper and on a Bewick it resembles the letter B.

Something new learnt - Thanks Paul.

Regards. Barr1e

[David Morison]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?

Pretty convinced it is a Whooper owing to the extensive area of yellow, a Bewick's has less. A side view would help.

David

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?

Here's another one from Welney:



Ian

[David Morison]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?

Definitely Whooper!

David

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?



"Now the first lesson about landing is - look down first, son..."

Juvenile Whooper (pretty confident on that now) coming in to land above an adult.

We were told there were 6,000 Whooper, Bewick's and Mute swans at Welney last weekend.

Ian

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?



Yes, there's more

Ian

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?



What's the equivalent of 'gaggle (of geese) for swans I wonder?

Ian

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?





Walking (running!) on water.

Ian

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?



Look out!

Ian

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?



Water skiing...

Ian

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?

The Mute swans say - anything you can do we can do better:



But the Whoopers aren't impressed:



Ian

[Barr1e]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?

What's the equivalent of 'gaggle (of geese) for swans I wonder?

Ian

In flight they are a wedge and on the ground it is a game of swans.

Regards. Barr1e

[Ian]

Re: Bewick's or whooper swan?

Thanks Barr1e!

Ian