Pied Swans

Handsome aquatic birds, pied swans may be the most intelligent of herbivorous avians. They seem able to remember those who have harmed or helped them (at least for periods of several weeks), and there have been reports of pied swans leading fog-lost travellers to high ground in marshes. Various rural and primitive peoples, such as the Marshmen of the Nindalf, revere these birds as being sacred to the Vala Yavanna. They are creamy white in color, liberally splotched and speckled with black and gray. Unfortunately, their flesh is tasty and their feathers soft, so that those with more greed than reverence hunt them. Pied swans are most commonly found in the Nindalf and along the shores of the Anduin in the relatively unspoiled areas of Ithilien.