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Whooper Swan Expand text

Smaller than the mute swan, it has a wingspan of about 2 meters, with a body mass not exceeding 12 kilograms. The whooper swan is incomparably rarer than the mute swan. The tundra swan is very similar to the whooper swan, but differentiating between the two would be most effective if you could observe these two species next to each other. The tundra swan has a shorter neck and is the smallest among swans occurring in Poland, not to mention the fact that it’s more difficult to observe.
Last minute news 12-2013
For long time any new pictures were not added to the gallery until the expedition in the area of Puck Bay in December. I have to admit that the flock of swans for sure counting more than a hundred birds was amazing. The view was stunning indeed, but the whole time I thought they were mute swans. Only after reducing the distance I could notice that in that such a large group were mute swans as well as whooper swans. A dozen of them took their wings creating a beautiful view at sunrise, despite the considerable distance. Fortunately, not all the time I was looking in the camera viewfinder shootingred-breasted merganers, because this moment would be missed. But this is not the end of communing with this species. On the pier in Jurata, not far away again in a flock of mute swans a whooper swan paraded beautifully. It allowed me to take a few photos, although was slowly swimming away. Then there was the third meeting with the species, probably the most important. Going from Rewa to Puck I could see a large flock of swans and grey-lag gese and bean geese among them. The experience gained the day before told me that it is worth checking the formation of the flock. In fact the closest to the car there was a beautiful couple of whooper swans with their offspring. Fortunately, their behavior was not too skittish. At the beginning they watched carefully and then slowly marched toward the larger flock of swans. This period of time was enough to make a few "dignified" pictures of this bird. Unfortunately, preoccupied with shooting I forgot about the possibility of recording the sound of the bird. Especially because it gave the sounds not too far, in a very quiet area, the sound quality would be excellent. Though every priority and precedence for photos. Thus the gallery of whooper swan has undergone a radical transformation, remarkable enough to be put in the news. Welcome.
Last minute news 06/2014 – Iceland
I had the pleasure to encounter whooper swans in Iceland several times. Once, as I wrote on the occasion of describing the red-throated loon, it was a very close contact and the initiative was fully on the swans’ side. During that encounter I recorded the sounds of these birds. What is interesting, mute swans, which are so common in my country, do not occur in Iceland. I managed to photograph whooper swans with their newly hatched chicks. Changes have been introduced into the gallery.
Last minute news 06-2016-Mongolia
In Mongolia I managed to take several interesting shots of a whooper swan on water. The gallery has been rebuilt.
Last minute news 01/2022
It was probably a bonus for my determination while waiting for several hours for Smews at around zero degrees outside temperature. The Smews stayed very far from my lens, suddenly a pair of Whooper Swans appeared. They are not as common as mute swans, and the enjoyment of such close contact warmed the atmosphere of this chilly morning. The birds posed for several minutes. At the end, one of them, barely fitting the frame, "stood" on the water flapping its wings. Many beautiful shots were taken.