Windsurfing swans: An overlooked phenomenon

Date: October 21, 2016

Source: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

It is well-known that birds can fly, swim and walk, but now there is scientific evidence that birds also can windsurf. Olle Terenius from the Department of Ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences reports that the Mute swan occasionally uses the wings as sails when moving quickly on water surfaces.

In the latest issue of The Wilson Journal of Ornithology Olle Terenius describes how he on three occasions has observed Mute swans windsurfing. That is travelling at high speed several hundred meters on the water surface with the help of the wind. Windsurfing swans have been sighted in 1999, 2014 and 2015 at three different locations in Sweden.

"This leads me to believe that the phenomenon is not confined to a particular place or a few birds. I hope this article makes more people become aware of windsurfing Mute swans and that we get a better picture of how widespread the behavior is when other people start reporting this phenomenon," says Olle Terenius.

The experts, with deep insights into the literature of Mute swans, who reviewed the article and the supplemented film, were unaware that the Mute swans can move in this way.

"I think the reason that this is missing in the literature is that ornithologists who are out in the field only quickly note that they see a Mute swan and write it down on the list of bird observations, while the general public has observed windsurfing swans thinking that this is already a well-known phenomenon," says Olle Terenius.

Read on  

Bird experts say South Jersey may have a swan problem

Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2014 7:08 pm

By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer

LOWER TOWNSHIP — Ponds across South Jersey are being overrun this year by mute swans, graceful, white birds that glide over the water like sailboats.

As many as 40 of the giant swans have been counted this summer at Cape May Point State Park. Many others have taken up residence at ponds across the state.

Now, New Jersey Audubon says state wildlife managers might have to intervene to protect freshwater habitat for migratory waterfowl that depend on it each winter.

“They are beautiful birds. Nobody is arguing about that,” said Mike Crewe, of Lower Township, program director at the Cape May Bird Observatory.

“But they’re increasing year on year,” he said. “That’s why it’s going to come to a head.”

Crewe said mute swans, which are considered a nonnative species, damage habitat that migratory waterfowl need to survive the winter in New Jersey.

Continued ...

FEATHERS FLY: Brooklyn bird groups divided on mute swan plan

Advocates who track the graceful birds at Prospect Park and beyond differ on the Department of Environmental Conservation's proposal.

BY DOYLE MURPHY / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Bird advocates are goosed up — and flying in different directions in response to a state plan to eliminate wild mute swans within the next decade.

Activist group GooseWatch NYC points to the plan, released last month by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, as an example of human meddling, almost implying the policy is downright anti-American.

“It’s similar to the immigrants that come into this country,” said Jeffrey Kramer, a GooseWatch NYC volunteer. “We’re very hostile to them.”

The president of a Prospect Park-based birdwatching club, on the other hand, counters that the lithe longnecks are a menace.

Continued

Swan-killing plan ruffles feathers in Prospect Park

PROSPECT Park’s birds of a feather could die together.

Government environmentalists want to wipe out the state’s population of wild mute swans, including the elegant, white longnecks that call Brooklyn parks and waterways home.

“It’s insane,” said David Karopkin, GooseWatch NYC founder and a leading critic of the plan. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re totally focused on the wrong thing.”

The Department of Environmental Conservation’s proposal calls for the elimination of all free-ranging mute swans by 2025. The feathered fowls are the winged bullies of the bird world, attacking humans and other animals in the park.

“Mute swans can cause a variety of problems,” department officials said in a statement, “including aggressive behavior towards people, destruction of submerged aquatic vegetation, displacement of native wildlife species, degradation of water quality and potential hazards to aviation.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/swan-killing-plan-ruffles-feathers-prospect-park-article-1.1594568#ixzz2sGpU43rG

'Mystery' illness kills 'half' of Radipole Lake swans

Fourteen mute swans have died of a "mystery" illness at a wetland reserve in Dorset, the RSPB has said.

The charity said "half the herd" at Radipole Lake in Weymouth had been affected since September.

Two sick swans are being treated at West Hatch Animal Centre in Somerset. No other bird species have been affected.

The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency is investigating the illness.

Tony Whitehead, from the RSPB, said: "The birds were showing signs of lethargy, so they were being unusually slow, and clearly seemed to be struggling in the water."

He described the deaths as "significant" and of "real concern".

Peter Venn, the manager at RSPCA West Hatch in Taunton, said inflammation of the intestine can "cause problems" for swans, but said this had not yet been proven to be the case at Radipole Lake.

The RSPB said the Environment Agency (EA) had tested the water for pollutants but the results are not yet known.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-24730432

Restronguet swans found 'beheaded'

Devon and Cornwall Police Wildlife Crime Officers are investigating after six Mute Swans were found dead in Restronguet Creek, Devoran.

Wildlife Crime Officer Barry Nicholas was initially alerted to two dead Mute Swans by a member of the public who had seen the bodies on mudflats opposite Greenbank Road.

Closer inspection revealed the birds to have been be-headed.

A search around the area lead to the discovery of a further four Mute Swan carcasses in various states of decomposition.

PC Paul Freestone for Cornwall said:

“At this time we have no way of knowing how these Swans died but the fact that they have had their heads removed leads us to believe that they were killed illegally”.

PC Nicholas added, “Killing a Mute Swan would constitute an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and I would encourage anyone who has any information regarding the deaths of these birds to contact the Wildlife Crimes Team”.

Anyone with information please ring Devon and Cornwall Police on 101 quoting ref: GT/13/1987.

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/fpfalmouth/10744528.Restronguet_swans_found__beheaded_/

The bird man of Lincoln Park Zoo

Lincoln Park Zoo opens at 7 a.m..

By then, most of its animals have snorted, stretched, wiggled, flapped and, without benefit of any coffee, otherwise roused themselves for another day of exhibiting their easy wonder. 

Kevin Bell, my guest later in the show, does have coffee in the morning: One cup; he needs it. He gets to the zoo at 6 a.m.., something he has done almost every day for nearly four decades, ever since he was 23 and came here from New York to become curator of birds—the youngest curator in the zoo's history.

Birds were the zoo’s first animals. They arrived in 1868, a pair of mute swans that were a gift from New York City's Central Park. They came by train; it took two days.

Many things have changed at the zoo during the last 144 years, but one wonderful thing has not: It's free, one of only three major U.S. zoos (the others are in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis) that charge no admission.

Those two swans soon multiplied to 13, and by 1874 the animal population swelled to 48 birds and 27 mammals. That year a bear was bought for $10 and the Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens was officially formed, making our zoo-though arguments come from Philadelphia—the first in the U.S.

It has grown—more animals, more land-over the years. But it has always bee—and remains—a special slice of the city.

A zoo, especially one as accessible and democratic as Lincoln Park's, sits in a pleasant spot in one's memory and provides a strong thread through one's life. It is a place where virtually every Chicago-area child is taken by his parents and where, in turn, these children take their children and their children and on and on through the generations.

It is an early morning last week. Outside, people stroll. Inside and outside, animals prowl. Lincoln Park Zoo shakes its furry, feathered self to life.

Kevin Bell is there, of course.

Bell says, "For a little while, my time is my own. This hour is mine, and I spend it with the birds.”

We are outside and a couple of tiny sparrows, prosaic city birds free to scurry about the trees above Bell's head, make some funny noise—you know, that chirping noise that always sounds happy. They fly off and Bell watches them, until they are but specks in the city sky.

http://www.wbez.org/blogs/bez/2012-10/bird-man-lincoln-park-zoo-103132