Mute Swan | Cygnus olor | Eala bhalbh
Breeding pairs of Mute Swans live year round on both the Main Lake and Upper Lakes. In March or April the swans start building a nests on the islands in the Main Lake and Upper Lake. Young swans will leave the nest soon after hatching, and are able to swim almost immediately. They spend their first weeks following their parents, eating aquatic plants. Mute Swans were not present on campus in the 1970s and 1980s. They were seen on campus in 1998 and have sucessfully raised cygnets (young swans) multiple times since then.
