COURTESY PHOTO |
Face-to-face with a mute swan. These birds can be aggressive during their nesting period, which runs from late March to early April.
Stakeholders on both sides of a life-or-death debate met in Albany last Thursday to discuss the future of the mute swan, an invasive species on the cusp of widespread population growth in New York.
There are approximately 2,200 mute swans in the state, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation, which are expected to reproduce at a rate of 13 to 20 percent annually. (more…)