The Outdoorsman ? By Terry Knight
LAKE COUNTY — Clear Lake is home to a wide variety of water birds. There are pelicans, osprey, grebes, cormorants plus different species of ducks and geese.
There is also another species of waterfowl that”s relatively rare, the mute swan. Presently there are only three mute swans on the lake and how they arrived here is a story in itself.
When J. Holden and Jane Schadeck of Lakeport first bought their lakeside home six years ago there was male mute swan living nearby. The swan so enthralled them that they decided that it needed a mate, so they contacted a swan farm in Wisconsin which agreed to ship them a female mute swan for a fee of $1,000.
The swan was shipped air freight in a crate that was used to ship dogs. Holden released the swan near their property and after a short period it bonded with the resident mute swan. However, after four years the pair still hadn”t nested and produced any young. Holden said he would see the pair every morning swimming off his beach. He even fed the birds a special mix.
Three weeks ago the female swan disappeared and that”s when Holden saw the photos of a mute swan on the front page of the Record-Bee.
The photos were taken near the Sunset Resort in Clearlake which is approximately 20 miles by water from Holden”s home in Lakeport. Holden called me and said that he thought the photos were of his missing swan.
Since mute swans don”t normally fly more than 100 yards, Holden wondered how the swan had traveled all the way to the south end of the lake. However, Holden was in for another surprise. Last week the missing swan suddenly appeared near his home in Lakeport and immediately bonded with its mate. However two days later a third mute swan joined the other two birds.
Now there were three swans swimming together.
Holden named the new arrival “Mystery” because he had no idea where it came from. For the past week the three swans can be seen swimming together near Rocky Point in Lakeport. The question that Holden has is the third mute swan the one that was seen in Clearlake or are there more mute swans scattered around the lake?
Mute swans aren”t native to North America. They originally came from Europe and were brought to New York in the late 1800s.
At one time they were considered a royal bird meaning that only royalty in Europe could possess one. In America they were released in parks and on private estates. Because of their aggressive nature against other waterfowl they are often released on golf courses to drive away Canada geese which foul up the greens with their droppings. They are a very large bird weighing up to 25 pounds with a wing span of more than seven feet.
They can live to 25 years in the wild. Many states consider the mute swans to be pests and California banned the importation of mute swans in 2008. Holden brought his swan into California before the ban took effect. As their name implies mute swans can”t make vocal sounds such as other swans.
They do make a loud hissing sound when disturbed. Despite their huge wingspan, they only fly short distances, normally a maximum of several hundred yards. They eat large quantities of various types of aquatic vegetation and even algae which makes Clear Lake an ideal habitat for the birds. They are very territorial and will drive away other birds. Steve Kelly of Lakeport said he once saw the male mute swan attack a sea gull that ventured too close to its mate. The swan grabbed the gull and thrashed it, nearly killing the bird. Their wings are so large and strong that there have been incidents where they have broke a human”s arm who was trying to handle it.
Holden plans on writing series of articles for the Record-Bee on his adventures with the mute swans. He also wants to hear from anyone who has seen swans around the lake. He can be contacted by e-mail at jholden@pacific.net.
