Page 13 - NLN September 19

Residents of Lake Eden:

The Black Swan

North Lakes’ Lake Eden is an oasis for many wonderful Australian species.

Arguably the lake’s most charismatic resident, the black Black swans can be sedentary or nomadic; they migrate
swan (Cygnus atratus) is a distinctive native bird with some opportunistically, guided by drought, rainfall and the stability of
intriguing qualities. water sources. Most commonly, they inhabit fresh and brackish
Adult black swans are big – up to 1.4 metres long with a 2-metre lakes, marshes and rivers but, when not breeding, also venture
wingspan and sometimes weighing upwards of 8 kilograms. to coastal waters and offshore islands. They choose locations
Their necks, which already seem long enough, are proportionally where there is plentiful food. Black swans are herbivorous,
the longest of all swans. Their red-orange bills stand out from eating vegetation and algae in water or on the shore. Along
black and dark grey plumage covering everywhere except with grazing, they filter-feed using lamellae – fine comb-like
beneath their wings, where there are bright white flight feathers. projections – inside their bills. Their adaptability means that
Young swans, called cygnets, are less striking; their feathers are these birds can be seen almost everywhere in Australia, although
grey and their bills are black. Cygnets are precocious, able to they aren’t known in the north and centre. A subspecies of
feed and swim on their own immediately after hatching from black swan lived in New Zealand before the arrival of the Maori,
their pale green eggs. Black swans lay clutches of up to eight who are thought to have over hunted the birds to extinction.
eggs in large mounded nests of reeds and grasses that sit at the Then, in the late 19th Century, the species was reintroduced by
water’s edge or float in deep water. Both parents, who pair for Europeans who brought over Australian birds. Since some swans
life, help to care for the eggs and young. As egg and cygnet, the have even flown all the way from Australia, scientists consider
swan is vulnerable to predators like rats and birds of prey. When them as native to New Zealand. Their numbers have increased
the nest is threatened, parents flap their wings, and whistle and such that they are now an agricultural pest.
hiss loudly. These sounds contrast with their usual high-pitched How bittersweet.
trumpeting, bugling and crooning. Like most waterfowl, they are
unable to fly for a month after breeding due to a coincidental Written by Charlotte Liehr
simultaneous wing moult. local author and nature lover

Photography by Lyn Fletcher, local photographer.
Follow her on Facebook -
@livingandlovingphotographybythefletchers

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