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Swan News
Er... so maybe their names should be Juliet and Juliet? Me, I'd run with a headline like "Lesbian Swans In Public Garden Love Nest!"
from the Boston Globe article (which won't stay around):
No cygnet and watchers ask, wherefore art thou Romeo?
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | July 15, 2004
The wait is over. There will be no baby swans this year in the Public Garden. Romeo and Juliet, the feathered pair who for six weeks feverishly guarded a nestful of eggs near the lagoon, have abandoned their nest. And one specialist now believes that both may be females; perhaps Romeo and Juliet are, in fact, Juliet and Juliet.
Mute swans are like chickens and can lay eggs whether they are fertilized or not, said John Gibbons, spokesman for Mass Audubon.
''It's not rare for female birds of several species, even if they're not mated, to lay eggs and go through the nesting behaviors," he said.
Juliet, or perhaps both Juliets, began laying eggs around May 21, and the eggs were expected to hatch sometime between late June and Sunday, but they never did. One by one, the eggs have been disappearing in recent days. At one point, there were nine, and yesterday, rangers said there was only one. Parks Department officials speculated that the swans may have kicked them into the nearby lagoon.
Turns out there is some evidence to support Gibbons's theory. The city adopted the swans a few years ago from a breeder, and both were billed as females. But when the eggs showed up this year, rangers assumed one was male.
''I was shocked when they said there were eggs in a nest," Parks spokeswoman Mary Hines said.
Determining the gender of mute swans is difficult because they have no external genitalia. Gibbons suggested that the city invest in blood tests that can determine gender.
Hines said city officials will consider having the gender test done, but for now they plan to test the last egg to determine why it never hatched. It's possible the eggs got too cold during their development, causing the embryos to die. Or they may not have been fertilized.
Whatever the case, there was a palpable sense of disappointment among swan watchers yesterday afternoon.
Beacon Hill resident Agnes Doherty said she had suspected the swans were both female, but still held out hope she was mistaken. ''Large water birds, especially in captivity, can get confused about who is male and who is female," she said, standing by the fence erected by rangers to protect the nest. ''Maybe next year they'll get a proper Romeo."
A few steps away, another Beacon Hill resident looked a little forlorn, gazing at the swans waddling around the nest while ducks pecked at what appeared to be the last egg. Still, Karen Voelker said she was glad they nested.
''People who haven't talked to each other for years have been standing together at this fence, brought together by the swans," she said. ''It's one of the most wondrous things I've ever seen."
from the Boston Globe article (which won't stay around):
No cygnet and watchers ask, wherefore art thou Romeo?
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | July 15, 2004
The wait is over. There will be no baby swans this year in the Public Garden. Romeo and Juliet, the feathered pair who for six weeks feverishly guarded a nestful of eggs near the lagoon, have abandoned their nest. And one specialist now believes that both may be females; perhaps Romeo and Juliet are, in fact, Juliet and Juliet.
Mute swans are like chickens and can lay eggs whether they are fertilized or not, said John Gibbons, spokesman for Mass Audubon.
''It's not rare for female birds of several species, even if they're not mated, to lay eggs and go through the nesting behaviors," he said.
Juliet, or perhaps both Juliets, began laying eggs around May 21, and the eggs were expected to hatch sometime between late June and Sunday, but they never did. One by one, the eggs have been disappearing in recent days. At one point, there were nine, and yesterday, rangers said there was only one. Parks Department officials speculated that the swans may have kicked them into the nearby lagoon.
Turns out there is some evidence to support Gibbons's theory. The city adopted the swans a few years ago from a breeder, and both were billed as females. But when the eggs showed up this year, rangers assumed one was male.
''I was shocked when they said there were eggs in a nest," Parks spokeswoman Mary Hines said.
Determining the gender of mute swans is difficult because they have no external genitalia. Gibbons suggested that the city invest in blood tests that can determine gender.
Hines said city officials will consider having the gender test done, but for now they plan to test the last egg to determine why it never hatched. It's possible the eggs got too cold during their development, causing the embryos to die. Or they may not have been fertilized.
Whatever the case, there was a palpable sense of disappointment among swan watchers yesterday afternoon.
Beacon Hill resident Agnes Doherty said she had suspected the swans were both female, but still held out hope she was mistaken. ''Large water birds, especially in captivity, can get confused about who is male and who is female," she said, standing by the fence erected by rangers to protect the nest. ''Maybe next year they'll get a proper Romeo."
A few steps away, another Beacon Hill resident looked a little forlorn, gazing at the swans waddling around the nest while ducks pecked at what appeared to be the last egg. Still, Karen Voelker said she was glad they nested.
''People who haven't talked to each other for years have been standing together at this fence, brought together by the swans," she said. ''It's one of the most wondrous things I've ever seen."
no subject
I reposted the url on People's Forum.