For the past four years, a pair of mute swans has set up housekeeping near the Chinese bunkhouse. Every spring, for weeks, crowds of well-wishers trampled the foliage on the other side of the fence, straining to count the number of eggs in the nest.
The male mute stayed close by, guarding his mate, ready to roar across the water if anyone got too close. Local swan lovers have helped the nest float by placing wood or styroboard underneath, and by inserting posts on the sides to prevent it from floating away.
Alas, spring tides overwhelmed the nest every year until this year, when a local fisherman saved the nest by tying a line around it and relocating it to a distant marsh. Last year, there were rumours that wildlife officials had shaken the eggs to prevent them from hatching, so the City of Richmond placed a sign near the nest site, explaining that no one had interfered with the nest, and that nature had simply taken its course.
Bob Baziuk, general manager of Steveston Harbour Authority, is our mute swan's guardian angel. He also happens to be an excellent photographer. When he discovered six, tiny cygnets, freshly hatched, he fetched his long lens.
At his request, the smallest of the grey cygnets is called Fleur, named after a friend's teenaged daughter, who was born on the same day (May 20). Two more cygnets are
waiting for their names, and we hope that the family will be adopted by local elementary school students at Homma.
Usually, no more than three cygnets per breeding pair survive the four months before they can fly, and three of the cygnets have already been captured by crows and eagles.
It's hard to believe that mute swans are on the Canadian Wildlife Service's invasive species list. Supposedly, the beautiful creatures are tearing out marine plants and destroying the food source of Canada geese and some ducks. Officials also claim mute swans are aggressive when protecting their nest and young. Sadly, the mute swans of Stanley Park's Lost Lagoon have had their wing tendons cut, or pinioned, according to their website. The mutilation is designed to prevent them from mating with trumpeter or tundra swans.
In January 2014, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation revealed a lethal plan to wipe out New York's 2,200 mute swans by 2025. New Yorkers were outraged by the plan, which included pricking eggs or coating them in oil, destroying nests, and shooting, capturing or gassing the adults. Nearly 40,000 swan lovers signed a petition to save the graceful white birds.
The State Department's claim that mute swans are not indigenous to North America is untrue: 300-year-old mute swan remains were discovered on James Bay in Ontario, while a 1595 engraving of an Atlantic coast scene depicts a mute swan. The truth is that indigenous mute swans were hunted to near extinction, leading to the importation of European mute swans in the late 1800s.
In Canada, there are fewer than 1,000 mute swans. Most live in southern Ontario and coastal B.C.. They mate for life, and can live up to 30 years. They eat aquatic vegetation, insects, small fish and tadpoles. Their long necks allow them to feed well below the surface, so they do not actually compete with ducks and other waterfowl for food. Mute swans are intelligent, and will remember who has treated them well.
Happily, our swans soon will be a familiar sight in Steveston Harbour again, as three little grey cygnets try out their wings and charm residents and visitors alike, while their parents hover protectively nearby.
Gudrun Heckerott is an active member of the Steveston community.
