Sydney the Cygnet has arrived

Last March, the "Friends of Eloise" and "Pals of Pete" of the Aspen Lakes Golf Course community rallied to support the growth of trumpeter 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 undertaking 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 yanking 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 if there were eggs and how many.

Their visit did not go over well with Eloise and Pete, and because of the swan's attitude 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 interrupting the natural processes of trying to raise their offspring.

Eloise and Pete have gotten 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 scavengers - 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 undeveloped 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 develops his flight feathers he will 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."