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Peter,
My suspicion is that neither of the cygnets survived.
As indicated in my email of 1 July, one of them died in the
last days of June. I saw the remaining cygnet several times over the first week
of July but not since. Soon after that the adults seemed to largely
abandon the pond - I saw one adult on the pond on perhaps only a
couple of occasions over the ensuing two months.
Last Thursday evening (16 September) I had to dodge a
freshly road-killed adult swan that was on the lanes of the southern side of the
circle, suggesting it had been on its way either to or from the pond.
Over the weeks that the cygnets were present, it was clear
that they were not restricted to the pond as sometimes they were there,
sometimes not, and I assumed they moved between it and, most likely, Nerang Pool
in Commonwealth Park. So I don't think inadequate food supply or
quality in the pond was necessarily an issue in the cygnet's survival. I do
think that it is a stupid place for swans to try to raise cygnets though,
because of the traffic situation. If the adult killed last Thursday was one of
the parents, there may not be another breeding attempt on the pond. Pure
Darwinian speculation.
Harvey
Harvey
Perkins
CRC Selection Rounds Section
_______________________________________
Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and
Research
Hello Harvey,
Do you know if either of the cygnets there
survived? I suspect they both perished because they couldn't get out to go to a
better food source. If neither survived I think we should suggest to
manager of the area that any nest there in the future should be
removed.
Cheers
Peter
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