Posted by Adam Quinan on February 21, 2009 at 11:45:07 user Adam.
In Reply to: Re: Black swans in England? posted by Mike Field on February 21, 2009 at 03:22:02:
Not all white swans are mute. Here in Ontario we have indigenous trumpeter swans, named for their trumpet like call. They are a bit bigger than the imported mute swans. Their numbers dropped to a very low level because they were severely hunted. Even when that stopped during the last century, they were found to be poisoning themselves by dabbling up lead fishing weights and shotgun pellets. Since their numbers have recovered somewhat but they are still not very common.
We see a few on a marsh near where I work.