Black-Necked Swan

The Black-Necked Swan (Cygnus Melanocoryphus) is native from the extreme and coldest regions of South America and it populates a very large area that goes from Paraguay to the extreme South of Argentina, to Patagonia, Falkland Island till Tierra Del Fuego. This specie has a reserved and shy behavior, it is very lonely and silent.  Among the Swans it is called the most Acquatic one, in order of it’s absolute necessity of staying into the water; also it’s physical structure requires that it stays into the water most of the time of it’s life and it goes through the vegetation only for looking for food. So usually, we can meet a small group or a pair on the shores. The Black-Necked Swan (Cygnus Melanocoryphus) mainly lives into the rich area near lakes and ponds and it prefers lower water where it can feed itself. As the Coscoroba Swan (Coscoroba Coscoroba), it loves to stay certain times of the year into salt waters where it can eat seaweeds, small fishes and invertebrates. The diets, of plant origin, it is mainly based on acquatic vegetation, tubers and sprouts of various kinds. The Black-Necked Swan (Cygnus Melanocoryphus) because of its weight  it needs large spaces before flying. When on air, the flight is linear and the wings sound is very high as a whistling sound. The pair is very close and during the reproductive period the male takes care of the construction of the nest that takes place near the water, into the dense and rich area of vegetation, often within reeds.  The nest consists of a large platform made of reeds and shrubs and in the internal part it is rich in leaves and herbs of varoius kinds. The female of Black-Necked Swan (Cygnus Melanocoryphus) is a little bit smaller than the male and from August to November she lays among 3 to 5 cream colored eggs. Unlike the Black Swan (Cygnus Atratus) in wich both of the pair members hatch the eggs, here only female does the work. But male is a perfect bodyguard of his important partner. Small swans, when they are newborn, has a mainly white down with some little gray sposts.  Both parents take care of their babis till they are completely indipendent. There is no sexual dimorphism between the partner. Both have gray-blue beak, pale pink legs, a very fiery red caruncle at the base of the jaw and a dark brown, almost blak eye iris . The adults are totally white but, as they are called, they have the 4/5 of the neck and the head totally black. Only a white line starts from the forehead, circles eyes and goes to the back.  The youngs of Black-Necked Swan (Cygnus Melanocoryphus) do not have the peculiar caruncle but they have a pale red beak and dark brown neck.