Ask the Swan Specialist

Problem with Coscoroba swan nest
By:SWDT
Date: 16 July 2015

Hi!
I really hope you guys might be able to help me. I have a pair of gorgeous coscoroba swans that recently had eggs! I was of course thrilled by this and excited to see the cygnets. The female was extremely attentive to her eggs and the male was very territorial, challenging everything and everybody going too close to the nesting site.. All in all great parents. Now here is the problem. I have a suspicion that a collegue of mine has been in the enclosure and took out the first egg. The female was of course very upset but she continued sitting on the nest and after a day laid a second egg. She was again the perfect picture of a swan mother. Now after my collegue revisited the enclosure a week later, there was all of the sudden two eggs again. The problem was that both eggs were placed on top of the mound the female made instead of inside of it as they were supposed to be, completely exposed to the environment. The swan abandoned the nest completely after this. The female has even started making a completely new nest in another spot. My questions are now will a swan abandon a nest if it has been fiddled with in such a manner and when will the eggs be beyond saving?
Please help!

Messages In This Thread

Problem with Coscoroba swan nest -- SWDT -- 16 July 2015
Re: Problem with Coscoroba swan nest -- The Regal Swan -- 16 July 2015