Date: 6/11/25 11:30 pm From: rainyday via groups.io <c_griz...> Subject: [AKBirding] Wednesday, June 11, 2025 No Cygnets
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 No Cygnets
Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 4:35 am, sunset 11:21 pm for a total day length of 18 hours and 45 minutes. Tomorrow will be 1 minute and 38 seconds longer as we approach the longest day of the year during Summer Solstice on June 20.
After being out of town for several days, I anxiously checked for the TRUMPETER SWAN family today at Mile One Nash Road. The pond seemed eerily empty.
Yes, there was a MALLARD family of cheeping ducklings, a handsome male RING-NECKED DUCK, the rattle of a KINGFISHER, and several TREE SWALLOWS swooping over the water. Finally, in the far back, I saw the long white neck of one adult Swan periscoping above the green vegetation. Just one.
Last Wednesday, both Swans were away from the nest, on what I hoped was a lunch break. On Saturday, Tasha texted concern about both Swans being away from the nest without their babies close by. She feared that the high water in May may have flooded or chilled the eggs and made them unviable. Or the cold, wet spring, or any number of other reasons for nest failure.
I checked again later today and didn’t even find one Swan. This is highly unusual. Swans do not leave their cygnets. Poof! Gone was the anticipated joy of counting the tiny youngsters, then watching them learn about food by imitating their magnificent parents, to see them grow and gain confidence, to fledge, and learn survival skills in the lean winter, and then to be totally independent and the cycle started anew.
I will keep checking on the slim chance that they have been well-concealed, hoping for the best but fearing the loss. Sometimes it’s just tough to watch Mother Nature.
