The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) is a large waterbird found across temperate Europe and Asia as far east as China, and introduced to several other regions worldwide, including North America and Australia. As an adult it has a wingspan of just over two metres, a powerful body, a long flexible neck, a small head, all-white plumage, and an orange bill with a black knob at the base — features that give it a distinctive, almost regal profile. It measures 140–160 cm in length with a wingspan of 200–240 cm and weighs 7–14 kg, averaging around 12 kg, which makes it one of the heaviest flying birds in the world; the black knob at the bill's base is larger in males, and the legs are black.
The Mute Swan is relatively quiet, mostly snorting and hissing, but its wingbeats produce a distinctive throbbing sound in flight. It breeds on lakes, in harbours and park ponds across southern and central Sweden up into Norrland, with a population of 7,000–10,000 pairs, and is a resident species seen year-round. The nest — one of the largest built by any Swedish bird — is a huge pile of reed, sedge and other aquatic plants, built up in reedbeds, on small islets or along sheltered shorelines, always close to water; the female lays 5–8 eggs, incubated for 35–40 days, and both parents guard the nest and young intensely, defending their territory aggressively throughout the breeding season. In winter this territorial behaviour relaxes and birds gather in loose flocks on the best open waters, often supplementing their natural diet of aquatic plants — pulled up by "grazing" the lake bottom — with food offered in parks and harbours, which helps them stay through cold spells. Originally established from escaped, semi-tame park birds during the 1800s, the Mute Swan is now common throughout the region and is not considered threatened.
Read about this species in Swedish →