Swan swam back again, well swum swan!

September 10, 2006 5:50 PM

Have you ever seen a swan in a tree? I know that swans are waterfowl, but would a swan for any reason ever land on a tree branch, however briefly?

Can you tell I want the answer to be yes? If the answer is no, I am not above dressing my cat in some sort of homemade long-necked disguise and chasing her up a tree, and then posting to this thread all, "Totally! There is a swan in my tree right now!"

posted by Powerful Religious Baby to Pets & Animals (25 answers total)

How would they grip the branches with flippers?
posted by cillit bang at 5:52 PM on September 10, 2006

Wood Ducks are often found in trees; they even nest in them. But a Wood Duck is not a swan.
posted by Rubber Soul at 6:03 PM on September 10, 2006

Response by poster: Right--I remembered that perching ducks roost in trees, and they also have webbed feet, so I wondered if it would be possible for a swan.
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 6:05 PM on September 10, 2006

Response by poster: Red-footed boobies also grip branches with webbed feet, though this seems to be atypical...
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 6:18 PM on September 10, 2006

You've made a foolish bet on this, haven't you?
posted by LarryC at 6:21 PM on September 10, 2006

There are numerous swans in the watershed that I fish and Boat on a nearly daily basis. I have NEVER seen one roost in a tree.
posted by HuronBob at 6:23 PM on September 10, 2006

I saw a Canadian goose in a tree once.
posted by spork at 6:29 PM on September 10, 2006

Response by poster: Ho, I wish, LarryC.

I have the saddest feeling that HuronBob is probably correct, though.
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 6:33 PM on September 10, 2006

neither a yahoo or a google search for "swan in a tree" came up with anything

the answer would seem to be no
posted by pyramid termite at 7:17 PM on September 10, 2006

If you're looking for an answer to a riddle, there are some Swans in this tree.
posted by yeti at 7:18 PM on September 10, 2006

Swans aren't perching birds so they probably wouldn't physically be able to balance in a tree. And that's if one got a wild hair to go up there inthe first place which as noted above, they usually don't. Plus they're really big and heavy so it would have to be some kind of special tree with widely spaced but sturdy branches.

Now if you had a stuffed swan.....
posted by fshgrl at 7:22 PM on September 10, 2006

"Swan, swan, hummingbird...."

Since hummingbirds probably don't land in water, it must be the swans that travel... ;)
posted by salvia at 7:29 PM on September 10, 2006

Well, not exactly but this nest looks like it's built on top of the lowest branches of a tree. And swans presumably climb into the next... via
posted by porpoise at 8:04 PM on September 10, 2006

Response by poster: Hee, yeti. Thanks, guys--I figured out a swan alternative.
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 8:07 PM on September 10, 2006

Response by poster: Whoa, porpoise, did you see the hairy pony on that page? I want that pony to be my mom.
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 8:10 PM on September 10, 2006

Stranger things have purportedly fallen out of the sky before. I could see how it's possible in how ever many centuries, previous or future, that at least once a swan has fallen from the sky and landed in a tree, however briefly.

My other suggestions involve a swan with mutant feet, or building a swan house with swan food and maybe swan toys to entice said swans (which I think is half a step above dressing your poor cat inswan costume.)

On preview: porpoise has a better solution.
posted by moonshine at 8:12 PM on September 10, 2006

Response by poster: Aww, moonshine, I was just reading that page the other day, as part of an ongoing quest to learn everything I can about Hard Rain: Animal Edition!

Poor cat??? She loves nothing so much as a good disguise; and loves to make my Richard Nixon mask walk the floor like...like a big wicked face with a cat inside it.
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 8:25 PM on September 10, 2006

Powerful Relgious Baby - I think that introductions between you and metachat may be mutually beneficial.
posted by porpoise at 8:32 PM on September 10, 2006

If there was a catastrophic flood and the water level of a lake where a swan lived rose up to branch height, and the swan got entangled in the branches and was too drunk (or dead) to get down, then when the water receded, you would have a swan in a tree. Until the ninjas cut it down.
posted by rmless at 8:45 PM on September 10, 2006

Response by poster: rmless, this is what I'm talking about. I knew there was a way.

Croops*, porpoise, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so chatty. Is a question like this not appropriate to post?

*crap+whoops
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 8:51 PM on September 10, 2006

i have seen canadian geese in trees, why not swans?
posted by cellar at 9:11 PM on September 10, 2006

If you've ever seen a swan fly, you'd realize that it'd be hard as hell for it to land in a tree.
posted by jedrek at 11:53 PM on September 10, 2006

Swans swim la fluidit'e
posted by hortense at 12:06 AM on September 11, 2006

I'm pretty sure swans can't even land on a solid surface, let alone a tree branch. I've lived in cities with large black swan populations for some years and I've certainly never seen it happen. The way they land on water suggests strongly that they'd break a couple of legs if they tried it.

I remember getting this from a credible source which I can't track down right now. You'll have to trust me.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 2:53 AM on September 11, 2006

This is the closest thing I could find on Flickr.
posted by milov at 3:03 AM on September 11, 2006