Swan Song: a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement.
No, I’m not giving up the blog! This swan song is less metaphorical, and sadly, more literal.
Barb received a text from our neighbor Renee last evening. “We are looking at the pond and we are worried that something is wrong with the swan. It looks funny and hasn’t moved for a while.”
I slipped into my sneakers and met Renee and her guests on the high grass bordering the sidewalk. We passed through the grass until we were overlooking the edge of the pond. The swan was 50 feet to our right, lying at an odd angle on the surface of the water. Its feathers, normally pristine white, looked rumpled and grey.
We tossed a few small stones in the vicinity of the great bird. Tiny waves rippled around it rocking it gently, but the swan did not stir. Little doubt remained, the pond’s largest resident had perished.
I took some photos and reported back to Barb. She notified the owner of the company that provides our subdivision’s swans, and he was on the scene this morning, confirming what we all knew.
As background, our subdivision of 300 homes includes three ponds of varying sizes. Each is stocked through the spring and summer with two swans from a company in southern Wisconsin. The swans add to the area’s serenity while keeping Canadian Geese from forgoing migration and making our subdivision their summer home.
This year the swans and our rocking decoy dogs have done an outstanding job of keeping the geese away. Unfortunately, a different predator may be ending the reign of the swans.
The coyotes in our neighborhood are plentiful and bold. Mr. Knox the Swan Guy concurred that yesterday’s incident was a coyote attack, the third attack on our subdivision’s swans this summer. Two of the attacks have been fatal.
Mr. Knox is not sure that he will want to bring us swans any longer. The losses are too painful. And as homeowners, we do not want to see this cycle repeat. The subdivision may decide to end our subdivision’s 25 years of summer swans. We may need to find a new way to help the decoy dogs keep the geese away. If so, we will miss watching the beautiful white birds glide across our still ponds. We will need a new way of achieving serenity now.
It will be a sad swan song.
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