Thank you so much for your highly informative post.

Taking all this into consideration. I don't want to pinion a bird. My personal feelings, but I'm more about letting birds find their way here naturally. That said, I also don't want Edward to suffer because he was brought here and has no say in the matter. He's stuck here without a mate. If I get him one....that's continuing the cycle. How much will he suffer if he does not have a mate? Are there ducks that make good swan companions? Maybe there is an adult female swan somewhere that needs to be adopted that is already pinioned? Any ideas on that?

We do not know what caused the death of the female swan except that it appeared to be neurological in nature. She could have eaten something or it could have just been her time. We have a lot of other birds/ducks on our lake and there are no other issues. Her death appears to be an isolated issue.

We are checking into the permit and we have someone that can build the pen and take care of the swan. What happens if he doesn't like the new swan? Does she go back home? It's alot of work to go thru if the success rate is low.

They were a mated pair that were purchased for this lake. They laid eggs every year, but our wildlife guy would shake those to prevent babies. Evidently, when the babies got old enough - Edward and Emily set about killing them. We do not want babies for this reason. We have a veterinarian that will take care of them.

Thank you so much for your assistance.

Best regards,
Gretchen