Pen and Cob Friendly decided that Greenook Lake was as good a spot as any to raise a family. They did not ask my advice about where to build the nest-if they had I would have said, "build on higher ground." Pen scooped muck up from the bottom, framed with sticks, insulated with feathers and did all of this at sea level. After much rain in early May I'm sure there is mucho moisture in the basement.
I knew these two swans were very young, but Pen dutifully sits on her eggs and turns them periodically (probably to dry them out). Cob, on the other hand has not learned to be a ferocious defender of his domain. Neither Anthony nor Caesar would have allowed a pair of Canada geese to hatch a brood of goslings right under their very beaks. Cob has alot to learn, maybe he told Pen how to build that gosh awful nest. If so, she has a lot to learn too.
For the life of me I can't figure out why swans shun Bridgeway Lake. Since l960, when Anthony and Cleopatra emigrated from Stratford, Canada, and populated Greenook with hundreds of their progeny, not one has ever nested on our northern shore. Even in 2003 when Bridgeway was the only lake-it remained swan-less. In building and selling houses, even swans must know that its, location, location, location.