Ask the Swan Specialist

In Response To: Torrential rains submerged eggs on lake (Shari)

Hi....
We did a full day rescue operation. It was so pitiful watching the swans frantically attempt to save their nest for hours on end. But the bottom line is the eggs were submerged in very cold water for several hours. We reached down and found and retrieved all seven, rebuilt nest, etc.

Question: this was a week ago. Now I only see four eggs. Is it possible eggs are rotated and snuggled down in nest or is it more likely that the swans removed three that were no longer viable? Also - does this mean that the four that remain in the nest definitely are still viable?

A little interesting note is that because the lake had risen so high and the nest was totally destroyed and submerged, we gathered mounds of leaves and built a nest a few feet away on higher ground and placed the eggs there, but the swans just kept circling in the old spot. So we held them back again and moved those mounds of leaves to the old spot and built up a safe nest (which of course they re-did much better!) and put the eggs in that and they returned. Well, a couple of days later when the water fell to its normal level, the swans were left sitting on a nest over two feet high! It looked like she was sitting on a throne!
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