Wednesday, July 18, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 7
Sydney the Cygnet has arrived
By Jim Anderson
Correspondent
Last March, the “Friends
of Eloise” and “Pals of Pete”
of the Aspen Lakes Golf
Course community rallied to
support the growth of trum-
peter swans in the Cyrus
family’s pond. With the help
of the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, The
Trumpeter Swan Society,
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
and the generous Aspen Lakes
homeowners, Eloise, the lone
female swan on Aspen Lake,
connected with Pete, a male
swan, hoping for babies.
It was an expensive under-
taking for the Aspen Lake
residents, but it worked.
Pete — who was shipped
all the way from North
Carolina — was an immediate
hit with Eloise and in a matter
of a few days they began to
travel around Aspen Lake like
they’d known each other for
20 years, doing the equivalent
of newly married humans of
holding hands, only with a lot
more vigor.
In a short time after the
honeymoon — or perhaps
during — Eloise began yank-
ing all kinds of vegetation out
of the ground, including great
stalks of cattails, and started a
nest. A swan nest is something
to behold; it looks a lot like a
volcano, but made of plants.
No one knew how many
eggs dear old Eloise deposited
in the nest until just recently.
Robin Gold, sparkplug of the
homeowners association’s
“Friends of Eloise” and “Pals
of Pete” activists and general
helper for The Trumpeter
Swan Society, tried to find
out. She got the brave and
intrepid Tim Ross to don his
boots and heavy jacket (the
latter to ward off a couple of
potentially very upset parental
swans) and attempted to see
CORRECTION
T h e N u g g e t a r t i c l e
“Suicide prevention is in the
local and national spotlight”
(July 11, page 14) listed an
incorrect number for the
Deschutes County crisis
line. The correct number is
541-322-7500 ext. 9.
Have a story
idea for
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if there were eggs and how
many.
Their visit did not go over
well with Eloise and Pete, and
because of the swan’s atti-
tude and their ability to hide
eggs, the humans canceled
the visit and the count failed.
It wasn’t until June 28 that
the egg question was partly
answered. A little white fuzz
ball tumbled out of the nest
and slowly worked it’s way
to the water and revealed
itself to everyone as a newly
hatched swan, which was
named Sydney the Cygnet by
all interested parties.
It is important to relay here
that there are NO VISITORS
ALLOWED! One thing new
parents of wild creatures do
not need is humans interrupt-
ing the natural processes of
trying to raise their offspring.
Eloise and Pete have got-
ten used to seeing Robin
and one or two of the Cyrus
Family easing around their
home checking to see how
things are going. Robin took
advantage of that familiarity
last week when Gary Ivy of
The Trumpeter Swan Society
suggested the eggs that did
not hatch be removed, and
asked Tim Ross to give her a
hand. The eggs would rot in a
few days and the smell would
immediately attract scaven-
gers — from turkey vultures
to coyotes and raccoons —
which the new family did not
need in the neighborhood.
Robin perused the two
eggs Tim came back with,
both of which were well
underway to stinking up the
countryside. In spite of the
deterioration, however, she
could see that one egg was a
dud and the other had what
appeared to be an undevel-
oped embryo inside.
Now everyone is looking
forward to next year as the
proud parents begin training
Sydney on how to survive on
his own. As soon as he devel-
ops his flight feathers he will
PHOTO BY AL KRAUSE
Sydney the Cygnet and the proud parents, Eloise and Pete, are the only
breeding trumpeter swans in Sisters Country.
be removed from his family at
Aspen Lake and transferred
to ODFW’s Summer Lake
waterfowl preserve to join
other trumpeters from around
the state.
Pam Mitchell said, “We are
thrilled that Pete and Eloise
were successful in producing
a cygnet in their first season
together. It’s so rewarding
to see the swans so happy
together. We’re grateful for
the efforts of the many folks
who worked together to help
make this love story a reality.”
