The birds in the digiscoped photos included on the ebird report for the
"Mute Swans" are indeed domestic geese. They look rather like the swan
goose breed called Chinese geese, the white coloration.
On Sat, Feb 15, 2020, 2:50 PM Ronald Hoff <webe2brdrs@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Tn-birders,
Dollyann and I went out to Louisville Point Park in Blount Co. this
afternoon to try to find the Mute Swans that were reported this morning.
Thanks to Nancy Moore, they were spotted in the slough to the east of the
pines out on the point (as you are looking north towards Knoxville and
upstream, this is the slough to the right of that).
We saw the 2 birds but upon further inspection with our scope, the 2 birds
we saw were some kind of tame hybrid geese, not Mute Swans. According to
our field guide, Mute Swans should have a black knob on top of the beak at
the base, but these birds had an all orange beak and knob. Plus they seemed
smaller than what we thought Mute Swans should be, with shorter necks.
This is not to say that there are no Mute Swans. Just that what we saw
were not. No other swans were seen in the area. When we left, the 2 birds
we saw were actually walking up into a yard.
Great birding,
Ron Hoff & Dollyann Myers
Loudon, TN
