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General News: Swans Leave for Their Winter Home

The swans were put in a cage, then driven over to the maintenance shed.  Photo by Diane Hines..
The swans were put in a cage, then driven over to the maintenance shed. Photo by Diane Hines..
The yellow tubes and ropes were used to bring the swans in from the pond.  Photo by Diane Hines.
The yellow tubes and ropes were used to bring the swans in from the pond. Photo by Diane Hines.
December 19, 2011

The two swans at Ring’s Pond in Cornwall moved to their winter quarters on Monday in an annual rite that can turn heads of people at Town Hall. The challenge for Albert Conley and his employees at the town building and grounds department is to catch the swans and get them in a cage.

Conley said that he decided to move the swans on Monday because the temperatures were falling and he was getting calls that the swans were stuck to the ice. The swans weren’t stuck, but with the mercury below freezing, it was time.

To get the swans to shore, Conley and his crew used a long piece of insulation tubing and a rope, sweeping the birds closer and, even onto, the land, where they could get a hold of them. The swans, Conley said, will only move forward when the rope comes up behind them because they will not jump over the rope.

Once in their cages, the swans had a short ride to the building and grounds maintenance shed near Munger Cottage where a stall equipped with a heat lamp and a tub of water to swim in awaited.

The swans will spend the winter in the shed before returning to their public home in Ring’s Pong.



Comments:

I didn't know that swans need assistance in the winter. I just assumed they would know how to survive? I know a lot of birds migrate south.


posted by Linda Carella on 12/20/11 at 8:25 AM

The photography was well timed. It must have been an excellent camera and perhaps was the photographer a professional? What lighting! I suggest submission to National Geographic


posted by Kathi Ellick on 12/20/11 at 9:50 AM

We store our swans for the winter?!?
You better hope the DEC doesn't get wind of this. Unless you have a NYS certified wildlife rehabilitator on staff, this is illegal. How many squirrels and deer are we housing? I appreciate caring for animals and being good stewards of nature but this has me shaking my head. I remember when I was a kid and birds migrated. Birds today are too lazy with their entitlements and nanny-state meddling. LOL.


posted by J Klein on 12/20/11 at 10:23 AM

i just thought they stayed there....


posted by Linda Bates on 12/20/11 at 12:19 PM

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