Justification
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: #http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of _the_WP15.xls#.
Christidis, L.; Boles, W. E. 2008. Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Cramp, S.; Perrins, C. M. 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.
Turbott, E. G. 1990. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.
References
Berglund, B. E.; Curry-Lindahl, K.; Luther, H.; Olsson, V.; Rodke, W.; Sellerberg, G. 1963. Ecological studies on the Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) in southeastern Sweden. Acta Vertebratica 2(2): 1-120.
Brazil, M. 2009. Birds of East Asia: eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, eastern Russia. Christopher Helm, London.
Day, D. D.; Beyer, W. N.; Hoffman, D. J.; Morton, A.; Sileo, L.; Audet, D. J.; Ottinger, M. A. 2003. Toxicity of lead-contaminated sediment to Mute Swans. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 44: 510-522.
del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A.; Sargatal, J. 1992. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
Delany, S.; Scott, D. 2006. Waterbird population estimates. Wetlands International, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Giles, N. 1994. Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) habitat use and brood survival increases after fish removal from gravel pit lakes. Hydrobiologia 279/280: 387-392.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1978. Ducks, geese and swans of the World. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London.
Kear, J. 2005. Ducks, geese and swans volume 1: general chapters; species accounts (Anhima to Salvadorina). Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.
Kelly, A.; Kelly, S. 2004. Fishing tackle injury and blood lead levels in Mute Swans. Waterbirds 27(1): 60-68.
Kobayashi, Y.; Shimada, A.; Umemura, T.; Nagai, T. 1992. An outbreak of copper poisoning in mute swans (Cygnus olor). Journal of Vetinary Medical Science 54(2): 229-233.
Madge, S.; Burn, H. 1988. Wildfowl. Christopher Helm, London.
Melville, D. S.; Shortridge, K. F. 2006. Migratory waterbirds and avian influenza in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway with particular reference to the 2003-2004 H5N1 outbreak. In: Boere, G.; Galbraith, C., Stroud, D. (ed.), Waterbirds around the world, pp. 432-438. The Stationary Office, Edinburgh, UK.
Nagy, A.; Machova, J.; Hornickova, J.; Tomci, M.; Nagl, I.; Horyna, B.; Holko, I. 2007. Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus subtype H5N1 in Mute swans in the Czech Republic. Vetinary Microbiology 120: 9-16.
Scott, D. A.; Rose, P. M. 1996. Atlas of Anatidae populations in Africa and western Eurasia. Wetlands International, Wageningen, Netherlands.
Snow, D. W.; Perrins, C. M. 1998. The Birds of the Western Palearctic vol. 1: Non-Passerines. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Spray, C. J.; Milne, H. 1988. The incidence of lead poisoning among whooper and mute swans Cygnus cygnus and C. olor in Scotland. Biological Conservation 44: 265-281.
Watola, G. V.; Stone, D. A.; Smith, G. C.; Forrester, G. J.; Coleman, A. E.; Coleman, J. T.; Goulding, M. J.; Robinson, K. A.; Wilsom, T. P. 2003. Analyses of two mute swan populations and the effects of clutch reduction: Implications for population management. Journal of Applied Ecology 40(3): 565-579.
Further web sources of information
Detailed regional assessment and species account from the European Red List of Birds (BirdLife International, 2015)
Explore HBW Alive for further information on this species
Search for photos and videos, and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection
Text account compilers
Ekstrom, J., Butchart, S., Malpas, L.
IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Cygnus olor. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 08/06/2015.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2015) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 08/06/2015.
This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife
To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums.
Additional resources for this species
Key facts | |
---|---|
Current IUCN Red List category | Least Concern |
Family | Anatidae (Ducks, Geese, Swans) |
Species name author | (Gmelin, 1789) |
Population size | mature individuals |
Population trend | Increasing |
Distribution size (breeding/resident) | 3,000,000 km2 |
Country endemic? | No |
Links to further information | |
- Additional Information on this species - 2015 European Red List assessment |