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Australian Wildlife

  Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)





Black Swan | Cygnus atratus photo
Black Swan, Bundaberg, Queensland

Image by ozwildlife - Some rights reserved.

Black Swan | Cygnus atratus photo
Bundaberg, Queensland

Image by ozwildlife - Some rights reserved.

Black Swan | Cygnus atratus photo
Currumbin Sanctuary, Gold Coast, Australia.

Image by ozwildlife - Some rights reserved.

Black Swan | Cygnus atratus photo
Black Swan

Photograph copyright: Nickolay Tilcheff - all rights reserved. Used with permission.







BLACK SWAN FACTS

Description
The Black Swan is a large water bird with all black plumage, except for the red bill, dark grey legs and white tips of the wing feathers. Both sexes are similar, with female slightly smaller and lighter than a male. The cygnets have light grey plumage.

Size
1.0 - 1.3m in body length. Wing span 1.6-2.0m

Habitat
Large open waters, flooded pasture, permanent swamps.

Food
mainly water plants

Breeding
nests on large mounds build in the middle of a shallow lake. They reuse the same nest each year. 4-7 greenish white eggs.

Range
common in well watered parts of southeast and southwest of Australia.

distribution map showing range of Cygnus atratus in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Anseriformes
Family:Anatidae
Genus:Cygnus
Species:atratus
Common Name:Black Swan

Relatives in same Genus
  Mute Swan (C. olor)