DPW unsure if swans are expecting


Nancy Heath shared this photo of the swans in Heritage Park. In the foreground, one swan uses body language to tell visitors to back away from the nesting area. In the background, the other swan attends to the eggs. Reminder photo courtesy of Nancy Heath

By Sarah M. Corigliano

Assistant Managing Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW The rumors are true there are swan eggs at Heritage Park in East Longmeadow. The swans are tending the nest and don't seem very happy about any visitors who try to get too close. But the mystery remains have the eggs been fertilized, or has the female swan just done what many birds do at a certain age and nest, regardless of a successful fertilization?

Sean Kelly, senior project manager at the East Longmeadow Department of Public Works, the town body which oversees the upkeep of the park and the care of the swans, said he's not sure either.

Why should residents be concerned that the swans may or may not reproduce? Well, because it's illegal.

When the swans were introduced a couple of years ago, Kelly said they were purchased because swans are territorial and it was hoped that these swans would help control the Canada Goose population at Heritage Park.

Mute swans, however, are not naturally found in this area. As a result, the town was fined by the state for introducing a non-native species to the environment. When non-native species are introduced to an environment, they can have a negative impact on it, throwing off a delicate balance that is struck with the presence of native species of animals and plants.

The state told the DPW that, while the town may keep the two swans, they were forbidden to allow the birds to breed.

When asked about the possibility that the eggs are fertilized, Kelly said "I don't have a definitive answer ... they [the swans] were supposed to be the same sex."

But Henry Lupa, owner of the Lupa Zoo in Ludlow, where the swans stay for the winter, said that if the swans are expecting, it's not because there was a mix-up in returning the swans in the spring. There's no question, Lupa said, that East Longmeadow has one male and one female swan.

"I would know," Lupa said. "The male is much bigger, they definitely have one male and one female."

The Lupa Zoo houses and cares for the East Longmeadow swans each winter free of charge, Lupa said.

He said he is happy to do it because he loves animals. At Lupa Zoo, he said, there are several swans, but only one Mute Swan, which is female. And the swans returned to East Longmeadow are the same that were brought to Ludlow for the winter, he added.

He also added that, if cygnets do result from the eggs laid by the Heritage Park swan, his zoo would be happy to adopt them. He even offered to take the eggs now and incubate them at the zoo.

Calls to ask Kelly about the original purchase of the swans and to ask whether or not the DPW knew the sex of the swans when they were brought to town were not returned by press time.