Management and Conservation Article Diet of Mute Swans in Lower Great Lakes Coastal Marshes MEGAN BAILEY,1 University of Western Ontario, Biology Department, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada SCOTT A. PETRIE,2 Long Point Waterfowl & Wetlands Research Fund, Bird Studies Canada, Port Rowan, ON N0E 1M0, Canada SHANNON S. BADZINSKI, Long Point Waterfowl & Wetlands … Mute swans are native to parts of Europe and Asia. Diet: Omnivores, mute swans eat aquatic plants, grasses and grains as well as snails and other small aquatic invertebrates.

They also eat insects, snails, and other small aquatic creatures. In some places, it has become common enough to be unpopular, and it is considered a pest in a few areas. Brought in from Europe as an ornamental addition to parks and estates, the Mute Swan has established itself in a feral state in some parts of North America, mainly in the northeast. Diet: Mute Swans eat aquatic plant material, grasses, and waste grain. The diet of mute swans consists of aquatic vegetation, and small proportions of insects, fish, and frogs. Although a mute swan's diet consists mostly of aquatic vegetation, it can also eat algae, insects, worms, fish, and frogs. Mute swans do not dive, instead they plunge their head and long neck below the water’s surface. Furthermore, these large birds can become aggressive quickly and are best left alone. Life Cycle: Nests are shallow bowls, lined with soft grass and down, built on huge mounds of aquatic vegetation, rushes and grass. Although they’re numerous and familiar in city parks and in bays and lakes in the Pacific Northwest, Great Lakes, Northeast, and Midatlantic, Mute Swans are not native to North America. The diet of mute swans consists of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) found in water as deep as 4 feet. They eat a variety of plant species and consume about 4-8 pounds of vegetation daily, sometimes uprooting plants completely.

This swan swims with its long neck curved into an S and often holds its wings raised slightly above its back. Mute swans will approach picnickers and visitors in hopes of handouts, but it is not wise to feed them, since bread is not healthy for swans, ducks, or geese.

The exotic Mute Swan is the elegant bird of Russian ballets and European fairy tales. Often, adult swans will uproot more plants than they actually consume. the Mute Swan (Europe, southern Russia & China) the Black Swan (Australia & New Zealand), the Black-necked Swan (South America) the Whooper Swan (migrating from subarctic Europe and Asia to temperate Europe and Asia in winter) the Trumpeter Swan (North America) and the Tundra Swan (Breeds on North America and winters in the USA).