A few days ago, a female swan by the municipal pond in Bolesławiec laid two eggs. At first, she could be seen incubating them, but now she is leaving them more and more often and does not return to them for a long time. Ducks, meanwhile, are milling around the nest.
Readers have informed us about this, pointing out that it may be caused by stress among the birds, resulting from the fact that the nest with the eggs is close to the railings and curious passers-by keep looking in every so often. Perhaps the nest should be screened off with some kind of partition so that people would not approach it or look inside?
We informed the municipal authorities about the situation.
As we read on Wikipedia:
Mute swans build floating nests in reeds, less often on land or in other hard-to-reach places. The base is made of branches and thicker stalks, the top of delicate reed and rush leaves, while the inside is lined with fine material and large down feathers. The male brings building material in his beak and gives it to the female, who arranges it properly
The female produces one brood a year, laying 5 to 9 eggs (tame female swans lay up to 12) in April or May.
The eggs are incubated for approximately 35 days, mainly by the female, while the male generally stays nearby, defending the nest if necessary and replacing the female for short periods. The chicks are precocial, and both the male and female care for them.
They become capable of flying after approximately 4–5 months. Although two- and three-year-old young birds already try to build a nest, they reach maturity no earlier than in their third year of life.