Swan

Swan (Cygnus; Ukrainian: лебідь; lebid). The largest of the waterfowl in the subfamily Anserinae, family Anatidae, measuring up to 180 cm in length and 13 kg in weight. These graceful, long-necked birds glide majestically on water, although they cannot dive, and fly with slow wing-beats. Swans are often kept in park ponds. In Ukraine only the mute swan (Cygnus olor) is found, in the Danube River and Dnister River deltas; the trumpeter or whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) and occasionally the Bewick's swan winter during their overflights on the Black Sea shores. The swan has been listed as an endangered species in Ukraine.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]