Mute Swan
There are about 45 Mute Swans living in the area of the harbour year round. In summer they breed producing scruffy grey cygnets quite unlike their graceful parents (ugly ducklings). Mute Swans are Ireland’s most common species of swan and the adult birds can be readily identified by their bright orange bill, the males showing a black knob on the forehead. Feeds by foraging around the reed beds and upending to get at sub-acquatic vegitation. Far from mute, Mute Swans can be very noisy, hissing and snorting at times. In flight their wing beats “sing” making a sound diagnostic to their species.