A trio of rare black swans have been wowing people visiting Marina Park in Newport Beach.
The swans were spotted at sunset on Friday, April 2, and drew many to photograph them as they glided in the waters across from the park’s Lighthouse Cafe.
Daryl Killion, a longtime Newport Beach resident, was wading near the shore when he first noticed the three birds swimming close together in deeper water.
“I made a motion pretending to throw seeds in the water and they swam closer to me and kind of followed me,” he said. “It was a nice event, especially because it was on Good Friday.”
Killion, who said he’d never seen such birds, didn’t know they were swans until he looked them up when he got home.
“They symbolize a beautiful thing … ‘Going from victim to victory,’” he said of what he read.
He was also amazed by their melodic sounds, he said, describing a unique tone and much different than the coarse squawking of geese.
“It was peaceful,” he said.
Other families at the park were also thrilled and took photos of the rare animals.
Dr. Scott Weldy, a wildlife veterinarian who operates the Serrano Animal & Bird Hospital in Lake Forest, has treated only one black swan in his 36-year career.
“They’re not native to this area,” he said. “They come from Australia. Usually, they’re brought in as decorative animals and are put into residential areas with ponds.”
As an example, he said a Lake Forest community association years ago had some black swans in their ponds.
Dr. Doug Coward, who treats birds at the Animal and Bird Clinic of Mission Viejo, is very familiar with black swans after living in Australia for five years.
“They’re all over there,” he said. “They’ve even got a beer – Black Swan Lager – named after them in Western Australia. I’d love to see one here in Orange County just hanging out. It’s pretty exciting.”
Coward said he has never treated one and that they are typically known to be “healthy and hardy.”
“The reason they may be hanging around is when they’re molting they can’t fly for a month and are often grounded, that may be why they’re hanging out waiting for their feathers to grow in.”
There have been some other recent accounts of black swans in waters off Newport Beach. On St. Patrick’s Day, Julie Henry, of Huntington Beach, said she and her friends saw five black swans near the American Legion, located not far from Marina Park on the peninsula.
A first Newport Beach sighting occurred in 2019, then again in 2020. There was also a sighting at Irvine Lake in 2020.
Coward said likely they enjoy some of the areas around Bolsa Chica and the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, too.
Where they go in between is unknown.
Though Killion described his encounter with the birds as peaceful, Weldy said males could be very aggressive, especially during mating season.
