My last picture of Sweet C16, taken after the sun set at the pond at Woodbine Park Tuesday, Nov. 9. © BCP 2010
There’s a double beauty whenever a swan
Swims on a lake with her double thereon. — Thomas Hood
I selected the words above to be today’s quote in honour of the lovely swan that has graced Woodbine Park for the past week.
I have more questions than answers about C16, the young female trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator) that landed in our neighbourhood park a few days ago. For as suddenly as Sweet C16 arrived, she has departed. I went to check on her Wednesday evening, and caught her engaged in a prolonged bout of grooming. After making sure that every last feather was mite free and re-waterproofed, she turned her head around and buried it in the feathers of her back, and started napping.
After a short rest — and possibly excited about the appearance of a woman with two toddlers in tow on the rocky little edge of the pond — Sweetie sailed over to explore her new visitors. Perhaps she was looking for food? I don’t know if she learned somewhere else — maybe at Bluffer’s Park, her original home — to beg for food from humans. Or maybe she was looking for companionship, as she seems very very friendly. At any rate, she sailed over, visited with the toddlers for a few minutes, then sailed away again and into the reeds along the distant edge of the pond, where I snapped the photo above.
Sadly, that was the last time I saw her. On a quick trip over to the pond Thursday, I found it empty.
Where did you fly to, Sweet C16? I’ll monitor the Trumpeter Swan Society website and see if she shows up somewhere else. Let’s hear it for their ID tags!
Friday, November 12, 2010 Update
Heard by the grapevine (OK, thanks to Libby and Facebook) that Sweet C16 is back at Bluffer’s Park with her friends and family. Off to check that out ASAP.
© BCP 2010
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