A swan song (sort of)

Driving to town one day this spring, I spotted a beautiful swan in a small pond. I pointed it out to my daughter, and several days later I was surprised to see that same swan, in the same pond, again.

Later I realized that the swan was probably introduced there to keep away the Canada geese that plague our subdivisions. You see, the geese are fun to watch, but they are huge birds that stick around for the whole season. They leave minefields of dog-sized droppings, and getting caught under a flying flock could be darnright hazardous--can you imagine?

They generally become a nuisance after the novelty wears off, and folks will go to great lengths to rid their property of these ~~beasts~~ birds.

Apparently swans deter the geese,so by introducing a pair, you replace gaggles of geese pooping everywhere with romantic beauty (unless they get angry, but let's not go there today).

This particular swan looked lonely to me. I was feeling sad for the poor guy (gal?), and pondered how his wings were probably clipped to keep him in that puddle-sized pond. It wasn't the romantic life I envisioned for this storybook animal. I mused over this for days.

We drove by again the other day, and I mentioned to my family how much sympathy I felt for the swan.

My 13 year old looked at me, bemused.

"What?" I said. "You don't believe me? They really do clip their wings, you know."

"Mom?" he said --very carefully-- "go take another look at that bird."

I argued for while, but then I went back to investigate.

Sure enough, this is what I found:

Well then. I was fooled by a decoy.

Don't judge me -- at least we won't be stepping on goose poo. Have you ever been distracted by something that was just a decoy?

Pam Stout writes musings about family, faith, and other exciting adventures like this one at BeyondJustMom.com. This post was written this spring before the incident in Lodi township.

photo credit: Chris & Lara Pawluk

Tags: swans