[The small white speck where the twig meets the shoreline in the center of the picture is where the

Mute Swan is nesting. The cygnets are due late-April, early-May. Click on the picture for a larger image].

~~~~~~~ October 31, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills ~~~~~~~

Having had a quiet Summer with no cygnets this year, a beautiful Autumn day brings color to the Mill Pond and finds the swans relaxing... See a few pictures of the swans in the Autumn 2002 Photo Album here.

~~~~~~~ May 23, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills ~~~~~~~

Over the last few days both the pen and the cob have been seen moving all around the pond and have left the small island on which they had resided for about a week. They seem to avoid the area of the nest just abandoned, and there has been no sign of any new nest being built.

Hello to Tom & Kim of Bethlehem, PA: they wrote to say that they have parents living in Marstons Mills and visit the site to keep up to date with the status of the swans. Wish we had better news, and thanks for visiting!

~~~~~~~ May 15, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills ~~~~~~~

Both the pen and the cob have avoided the nest now for the past week, obviously abandoning it. They have instead huddled on the small island almost exclusivity for that period. This is very uncharacteristic as they are practically always in the water and very rarely on land. We will report again when there is news of note.

~~~~~~~ May 12, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills ~~~~~~~

The pen has been off the nest more than on over the last two days, spending a good deal of time at a small island at the north of the pond, 500 feet away from and out of view of the nest.

The gestation period for mute swans is 35 days which starts from the date of the last egg being laid. With 2 days between eggs and no knowledge of how many eggs in the clutch [usually 3-7, with as may as 13 recorded], we don't know from what date to start counting.

The nest was occupied about March 12th, so with 3 eggs that would be April 22nd, with 7 eggs April 30th. We're now 12 days beyond the high side, so things don't look very promising.

What happens next? Experts disagree: some say that as long as the clutch is intact, the pen will stay with the nest waiting, not knowing the time has expired; others say they'll try again, in the same nest or building a new one. Stay tuned...

Is anyone reading this? Please send an e-mail just to say so, thanks! webmaster@marstonsmills.org.

~~~~~~~ May 10, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills ~~~~~~~

Several checks so far today have shown the nest constantly occupied. Using a high-powered telescope [see Peter Erceg, below] we observed the pen activity adjusting the nest but there appeared to be no activity inside. [Three turtles were seen soaking up the sun at the base of the nest].

The second picture shows the nest from the Herring Run on Route 149. Click in these picture for a larger image.

~~~~~~~ May 9, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills ~~~~~~~

The nest was occupied by the pen when checked at 7:30 am. The cygnets are due any day now and from the little information we have, it seems to be getting a little late. Concern is mounting about a possible repeat of 2000.

Peter Erceg provides the following history of when the cygnets have arrived in past years:

2001 ~ April 28, 6 eggs yielded 3 cygnets; only 2 survived past June 1; those 2 left the pond early March, 2002

2000 ~ Nest was built and occupied but no cygnets; a second attempt with another nest built in a new location in late May yielded nothing.

~~~~~~~ May 7, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills ~~~~~~~

An early morning check showed that the pen [female] was back on her nest and the cob [male] was back on guard duty!

~~~~~~~ May 6, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills ~~~~~~~

The nest had been empty for the entire day, today. Both swans were far away from it, sitting on a small island near where the Marstons Mills River enters the Mill Pond. They have never done that before, hadn't even been away from the nest since it was built about six weeks before.

We feared the worst: with River Day being the day before, perhaps they got spooked with all of the people kayaking and others walking around the pond, or maybe someone disturbed the nest.

A trip over to the cove where the nest lay didn't reveal much, as we couldn't get close enough. The nest appeared intact, but we couldn't see inside. We'll just have to wait and see...

~~~~~~~ Early March, 2002 ~ at the Mill Pond, Marstons Mills~~~~~~

While it's hard to be certain that the same pair of swans are here from the year before, it was observed that the two cygnets from 2001 stayed the winter, which [according to Peter Erceg, a local expert on these matters, having lived beside the pond for the last 15 years] hasn't occurred here in recent memory.

Normally, after receiving flying lessons in September / October, the cygnets are [literally] kicked-out of the pond by their parents!

But now, its early March, and time to start building a new nest [ignoring last year's altogether] and the cygnets definitely had to go!

With all kinds of flapping of wings and honking [yes, they are not mute] and being chased all over the pond for a period of several days and nights, they were finally gone! [we'll tell you later where they go].

So the new nest was built in a secluded cove on the southwest corner of the Mill Pond and soon after the pen [female] was spotting on the nest, full-time. The nest is inaccessible, so it can't be determined how may eggs are present. The cygnets will be due the first or second week of May.