Hi Regal,
We live on a small lake in Alaska. This pair of swans lived on our lake last year, and they came back again this year. We know it is the same pair because they are very friendly and will come right over to us (they have obviously been fed by humans and are not afraid of us). The female left our lake one day, but the male would fly back and forth from our lake to another one. We have a small airplane so my husband took off in our airplane and followed the male and found the female nesting on another small pond about 2 miles away. The male would fly back and forth for about a month once or twice a day and we always watched him fly back to the other small pond. So one day all 3 of them showed up on our lake. There is no way they could have walked thru the woods and down the road, so they had to have flown. That mother swan was determined to get her baby back to our lake. The only thing we can think of is that she carried it in her mouth - it was probably 2 or 3 days old. The baby is doing great - and it is fun to watch him or her grow - we have named him Cyggy.