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June 1: "B" pair now into day 44 of incubation - no cygnets yet! If nothing hatches in the next few days, we may not see cygnets this year. The "B" cob was very attentive at the nest today. The photos below were taken this morning - the pen covered the eggs and went for a quick feed and wash (as usual) while the cob watched the nest...
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June 2: "B" pair now into day 45 of incubation. The regular swan watchers (human) are beginning to give up hope of cygnets this year. As in previous years there are varying opinions about how much human interference has occurred (or should occur). One overheard conversation was about an attack on the "B" cob by the "A" cob (aka "Precious"): man describing how he "had to wade in to the water and remove Precious from Poppa's back". By "Poppa" he meant the "B" cob. To which another observer replied "why did you interfere, you should leave Nature alone". "But he had his head under the water and was drowning him....". This lead to a debate about how unnatural the situation is anyway. Knowing both people concerned I realize that concern for nature takes many forms - they both care deeply for the Swans. As do may other people.
June 3: "B" pair into day 46 of incubation. Still have four eggs.
June 4: "B" pen now has been sitting for a full 46 days. This is the maximum quoted for any literature I have found. Still four eggs.
June 5: "B" pair into day 48 of incubation. I did not see the eggs today, but rumour has it that Parks Officials have removed one egg "for testing".
June 6: "B" pair day 49 of incubation - not much hope. Fewer people around and most now looking for signs that the eggs have gone bad. Confirmed that there are now only three eggs in the nest. I have more photos and some information about the other swans - I expect to update the log for the last few days further this (coming) weekend. That will then take us beyond 50 days. Given that last year the "A" pair's last egg went bad at about day 55, I will probably stop the "egg watch" in about a week - I will report until the last egg has gone. Some time after that I hope to draw together more background information on the current status of Mute Swans in Stanley Park.
June 10: "B" pair day 53 of incubation! The pen still sits and the eggs still look OK, but realistically there is no hope of hatching.
June 23: I long ago expected the "B" pair to have lost their eggs - day 66 of incubation! The maximum is below 50. So today I was not surprised to see only 2 eggs (there were 3 yesterday). The pen had just returned to the nest and the cob was in the water nearby. There was no sign of broken eggshell. There was more of a smell about the nest, but nothing like in previous years where eggs have "exploded". I will update this log when the next egg goes, followed by the promised final update after the last egg.
June 25: The last eggs have gone - the pen was at the nest attempting to "uncover" eggs to sit on, but however deep she dug there were none. Eventually she gave up and went into the water to feed. Then the cob climbed up on the nest and searched too, sitting occasionally. An off leash dog then chased the pen well out into the Lagoon. I have photos of these events which I will add in the coming weeks or months.