Bewick's Swan

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iBewick's Swan

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Anseriformes
Family:	Anatidae
Genus:	Cygnus
Species:	C. columbianus

Binomial name

Cygnus columbianus
(Ord, 1815)

Subspecies

C. c. bewickii
C. c. columbianus

The Bewick's Swan, Cygnus columbianus ( Tundra Swan in the United States) is a small Holarctic swan. This taxon is sometimes split into two species, C. bewickii of the Palaearctic and the Whistling Swan C. columbianus of the Nearctic but the latest evidence suggests they should be considered as subspecies within C. columbianus. Bewick's Swan is named after the engraver Thomas Bewick, who specialised in illustrations of birds and animals.

1 Description
2 Distribution
3 Behavior
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Description

Bewick's is the smallest of the three Holarctic swans, at 115-127cm length and a 170-195cm wingspan. C. c. bewickii is similar in appearance to the Whooper Swan, but smaller, shorter-necked and with a more rounded head shape, with variable bill pattern, but always showing more black than yellow (the other way round with Whooper Swans). The bill pattern for every bird is unique, and scientists make detailed drawings of each and give them names to assist with studying this species. C. c. columbianus is distinguished from C. c. bewickii by its largely black bill with a small yellow spot of variable size at the base.

[edit] Distribution

Bewick's Swans breed in the Arctic, C. c. bewickii right across northern Russia from the Kola Peninsula east to the Pacific, C. c. columbianus in Alaska and Canada. C. c. bewickii migrates via the White Sea, Estonia, the Elbe estuary to winter in the Netherlands and the British Isles, especially in the wildfowl nature reserves of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Populations breeding in eastern Russia (roughly east of the Taimyr Peninsula) winter in Japan and China; these are sometimes separated as the subspecies C. c. jankowski, but this is not widely accepted as distinct, most authors including them in C. c. bewickii. C. c. columbianus winters in the coastal USA.

[edit] Behavior

Their breeding habitat is wetland. The female bird lays 4 to 7 eggs in a mound of plant material on a site near open water. The pair build the nest and defend a large territory around it. They pair for life, and their cygnets stay with them all winter; they are sometimes joined by offspring from previous years. In summer, their diet consists mainly of aquatic vegetation, eaten while swimming. At other times of year, they also eat cultivated grains in open fields. They have a high pitched honking call. According to National Geographic, when migrating these birds can fly at altitudes of nearly 27,000 ft.

Healthy adult birds have few natural predators. Although numbers are stable, they are increasingly dependent on agricultural crops to supplement their winter diet due to loss of aquatic vegetation in their winter habitat as a result of habitat destruction and water pollution.

The Bewick's Swan is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Cygnus columbianus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern,and the criteria used
Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palaearctic lists - Martin Collinson, British Birds vol 99 (June 2006), 306-323