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Our Gliding Swan Weather Vane, Cygnus, has a beautiful profile against the skyline. The elegant curve of its neck silhouetted against a blue sky makes this weathervane immediately identifiable as a swan. You will notice that each wing consists of three separate panels, meaning there are a total of six individual wing panels required for this weathervane. These panels give the sculpture piece that distinctive rounded wing shape for which swans are known.
While this weathervane can be made traditionally using only copper, it is often ordered with optional gold or palladium leafed facial markings. As the copper swan weathers, these facial features stand out in vibrant contrast, creating visual interest as the weathervane moves through the patina process.
As with many of our waterbird weather vanes, several of our customers have placed their sculpture pieces in ponds or lakes at water level, employing a stainless steel mounting rod for this application. As the wind turns and the water ripples, it looks as though the swan is majestically gliding through the water.
Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Though sometimes swans are considered a distinct subfamily; Cygninae. Swans usually mate for life, though ‘divorce’ does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure.
Young swans are known as cygnets, from the Latin word for swan, cygnus. An adult male is a cob, from Middle English cobbe (leader of a group); an adult female is a pen (origin unknown).
Placing a swan in the sky has precedents in Greek mythology. Cygnus has been identified with several different legendary swans: Zeus disguised himself as a swan to seduce Leda, the wife of the Spartan king, Tyndareus. Leda gave birth to the Gemini, Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra: Orpheus was transformed into a swan after his murder, and was said to have been placed in the sky next to his lyre (Lyra). In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, there are three people named Cygnus, all of whom are transformed into swans. And in more recent literature, who can forget Hans Christian Andersen’s charming story about The Ugly Duckling.