Back in November, I posted some pictures of a lone Black Swan cygnet with its parents. The baby was actually very cute, not an ugly duckling at all, unless you’re a duck, I guess. Since then, I’ve been keeping an eye on the young family and hoping that the little one makes it through its first difficult months. So far, so good.

Here’s the little one in December, just a few weeks after I first saw it:

It’s very small next to its parents, and doesn’t look much like a swan:

Now we’re in early February, three months after I first saw the baby, and what a difference! The little one is nearly the size of its parents and already looks more like a swan than a bundle of fluff:

Black Swans face several dangers: foxes, dogs, getting snagged and injured by fishing line, boats, and pollution. I don’t know how many there were in the brood, but it’s great to see one youngster doing well.

This video from December shows the little one bravely battling the choppy waters of the dam where they live. If you listen carefully, you’ll hear the cygnet cheeping continually. The rushing sound is the wind:

Now, in February, the youngster sails majestically around the adult birds. The noisy birds off-camera are Rainbow Lorikeets:

Common name: Black Swan
Scientific name: Cygnus atratus
Approximate length of adult bird: 120 cm
Date spotted: 3 February 2026 (summer)
Approximate location: Sydney’s Northern Beaches, New South Wales, Australia

Early in October I spotted a family of swans at Manly Dam. These are Australian Black Swans. When I first saw them, there were five baby swans (cygnets), closely watched over by two adults. This was one of the little ones, just a few days old then, I think:

Since then, I’ve been watching the cygnets grow. Alas, two of them disappeared over the weeks. But there are still three of the cygnets, still with their parents in late December, and much bigger and stronger.

The video below shows a cygnet and a parent feeding on water weeds. This was towards the end of November, when the cygnets were around six weeks old. Near the beginning of the video, the adult swan grabs a clump of weed and dumps it near the baby.

Eat your greens!

Later the video zooms out to show the entire family of three babies and two adults:

Here’s one of the cygnets swimming with an adult, also at around six weeks old:

On 23 December, at ten to eleven weeks old, the cygnets are much bulkier and their faces look more swan-like:

Even at this age, their wings are still small and stumpy, nowhere near ready for flight:

Common name: Black Swan
Scientific name: Cygnus atratus
Approximate length of adult: 120 cm
Date spotted: 9 October 2020 (spring) through to 23 December 2020 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’58.5″S 151°15’18.6″E