Our Swans

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It is the season for our three pair of swans to tend their nests and lay eggs. Our swans are Mute swans. During the brooding season the males black knob will swell making it easier to determine the sex. The male may offer the female several “nests”. Once the female chooses a nest it could take a few weeks to lay. Then she will lay an egg approximately every other day. The male will stand guard. This is not the time for anyone to try and approach the nest or any swans in the proximity of nests because they can become aggressive and protective.

It is common on Sedgefield Lakes to have cygnets in very late April or early May.

Swan history - Vawn Schroll

Here is the swan history as I know it.

I moved here in January 2008. At the time there were two swans (I believe the originals) named Simon and Sophie. They were fed from the feeder tended by the Routh family on the upper "little" lake. On May 3rd 2008 their brood hatched seven cygnets. Of those, three were successful at surviving to adulthood. We (our little neck of the hood) called these swans JR, Paulette and Pierre. Their sex was in question because it is hard to determine and we didn't have a professional look at them. Others on the lake called them JR, Maggie and some other girl name. I can't remember it. Probably a mental block because I believed two were male. During mating season of 2009 Sophie and Simon produced a large clutch of which one survived. We called him Lonestar. The other three hung together on the big lake, shooed away by their parents. Later that year or very early 2010 Simon died. JR was only 2 but paired with his mom, Sophie. Often swans will pair before they start having clutches. The normal age to start having a clutch is 3-4 years old. While they did produce a clutch none survived (he was a new dad and still learning to protect them). The pair left from the Trio of 2008 paired and one single swan (lonestar DOB 2009) swam with the ducks and a kayaker (me). In 2011 JR and Sophie had another clutch.

Of this, one survived. I called her Grace and was glad to see the numbers even up again. In 2012 our other pair mated for the first time (Paulette and Pierre for clarity sake). None survived but that is typical for new swan parents. Sophie and JR produced a successful clutch of three cygnets that year. Our population was a nine but didn't stay that way. Sophie died that year. I was told she was 6 years old but I never verified that. The Rouths did have a "autopsy" done and it was "of natural causes". Another swan was attacked by what some speculate was a coyote but whatever the cause by the fall of 2012 we were at seven swans a swimming. I was still hand feeding and kayaking with Lonestar and he mainly stayed alone in Schroll cove. In October of 2012 I had a health incident that made it impossible for me to go up and down my hill to feed or kayak with lonestar. During that time more swans were born and died. The surplus were corralled and sold. It was not until spring 2015 that I was able to reestablish list my relationship with Lonestar who was still seen alone in my cove. And now he is completely enamored with this new chick and...

I am just a little jealous.