![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/MuteSwansRestonNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI turned to watch what might happen next. At first, the swans were unaware of the small predator. They had their heads tucked in and were facing the lake not the rocks where the mink was moving.<\/p>\n
Some sound or scent must have alerted them though, for first one, then the other turned to watch. I couldn\u2019t hear it, but I could see the cobb hiss and warn off the mink.<\/p>\n Whether the mink would have approached even if the birds had remained sleeping I can\u2019t know. I doubt it though given the aggressive and violent nature of Mute Swans. It might have made a try for an egg or nestling but a full grown swan can easily kill a small creature.<\/p>\n In this case, the mink stopped momentarily on the rocks to look at the two birds, then disappeared into a crevice. It did not reappear in the next five minutes. Still, I enjoyed seeing the small interplay and the suspense while I waited to see what, if anything, might happen.<\/p>\n According to the website of the British Swan Sanctuary<\/strong><\/a> mink do occasionally kill adult Mute Swans! There is also a question posted to a swan forum<\/strong><\/a> by a person who had a domestic Mute Swan which was killed by a mink.<\/p>\n I\u2019m surprised to see this given the difference in size.\u00a0 I guess I was right to watch the interplay carefully as I might have seen something very dramatic if the swans hadn\u2019t awakened.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll have to keep an eye on the rocky shores of the Lake for any future Mink close encounters!<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Join In<\/strong> My view of a close encounter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,11],"tags":[25,302,65,104,127],"class_list":["post-3010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","category-rambles","tag-birds","tag-j-c-saddington","tag-mammals-2","tag-mink","tag-mute-swans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3010"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8373,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions\/8373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nCan a Mink Kill a Mute Swan?<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\nHave you seen a Mink attack anything larger than a crayfish or a small duck? Please share your glimpses into these stealthy hunters\u2019 lives with a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"