Mute Swans or Chickens?

At the end of July only 1 of this year's

six 2024 Lake Hildegarde cygnets remains

Editorial - By Edie Johnson

Blooming Grove - The saying goes, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch!" Now we apparently need to add, "And first make sure it's a chicken!" (be patient, there is an answer coming).

Families of mute swans have lived at and in Lake Hildegarde for decades, and probably much more. Over the past 20-plus years I have watched the pairs (usually one pair per season), and in the Spring seen them take turns minding their nest of eggs in the far off area of reeds. Most years in May or early June, mom and dad swan reappear with 5 or 6 babies, called "cygnets". It is normal in nature for 1 or 2 of the cygnets to be lost due to a predator or health issue, frequently due to foxes. This May, 6 cygnets hatched. Tiny and frail, the parents, nicknamed Hilda and Garde, watched them closely and taught them to feed from the lake and groom, usually spending half the day in a little inlet by Turtle Knoll. But 2 weeks later there were only 4 ....and when another 2 weeks passed there were only 2. Now only one remains. The mom and dad swan probably grieve. But they have work to do and have doubled down on efforts to raise Junior and keep him alive. This is not normal for this site, as each of previous recent years there have been 5 or 6 still surviving in the Fall.

What happened to Junior's 5 brothers and sisters?

Hilda & Garde - Proud parents of 6 cygnets

Learning life skills with mom

June - And then there were only 2 cygnets, being carefully

guarded from predators and taught to stay out of the heavy algae

where cyanobacteria can develop

We will never know for sure. But with extensive building in the area, including sewer excavating nearly at the lake's edge, stormwater drainage flooding, excessive heat that created so much algae there may be aflatoxins and cyaobacteria, and many predators, more than usual due to the displacement of habitat by clearcutting of 3 very nearby projects. DEC stepped in several times and temporarily halted at least 2 of the projects due to stormwater flooding and put restrictions on the 3rd. But 5 baby cygnet swans are already dead. We know that swans are a #1 indicator of the environmental health of a lake and surrounding area. In Switzerland they are used as an important environmental guideline.

Here's the thing .... it's incredibly sad for this to have happened, but it is incredibly more important to learn from it. Environmental studies started taking some big leaps back in the 90's and early 2000's. But how much are our children being taught (other than in a science book) AT HOME, in their neighborhood, and in school about the wildlife surrounding them. And what happened to a goal of a balanced earth with zero population growth so everyone could thrive?

If the water is bad for them, it is also bad for us. During the past 10 years water became a big issue for the Village of South Blooming Grove. Already having had problems from aging infrastructure water pipes, whenthe proposed Clovewood project went before Village officials there became a mantra by Supervisor Rob Jeroloman and the Town's Berger Engineering Co. water experts from a leading hydrogeological group in the world was hired with a resume of having performed some pretty wundrous work saving important environmental areas in Ecuador and Peru. The mantra while town after town in Orange County struggled with the worries of future water issues went like this "water knows no boundaries" , and from those meetings wthe public all got some pretty wundrous hydrogeology education.

Lake Hildegarde is right along the border of the Town of Blooming Grove and the Village of South Blooming Grove, and so BOTH municipalities need to do their best to monitor the water quality, determine what local variables contribute to its health (or lack of health), and make sure that the next generation has the educational tools to save our water, for as Native Americans have long said, "Water is Life". The Village continues to have water issues and while most of the roadway along Lake Hildegarde is Village, the Lake itself is in the Town.

This year at Lake Hildegarde Mute Swan life was different. There were 6 cygnets born, and then there were only 4, then 2 cygnets remaining. Now there is only 1, nicknamed Junior. Like human parents I'm sure the parent swans grieved about losing 5/6'ths of their offspring, but they doubled down to take care of Junior, and show him the safest places to stay when the health of the Lake is at its worst.

Now back to "Mute Swans or Chickens". When there was a day that only 1 cygnet was visible in the green muck, I hoped that maybe the second was behind one of the parents. I came back to Turtle Knoll with my camera the next day. Three teens, about 17 years old, were walking by the side of Prospect Road. They tilted their heads, "What are you doing?" I told them I was looking for the other baby swan, "There were 2, I only see 1." The eldest called out "Chickens? You mean the chickens." My heart dropped. With a small fenced in animal shelter 2 houses away that had recently been shut down by the Building Inspector for a code violation, I feared the worst. But like the swan parents, I let it go. That was a couple of months ago, and I immediately thought "One thing is clear, THESE KIDS NEED SOME ENVIRONMENTAL AND WILDLIFE EDUCATION!" WE need to do something more about wildlife and environmental education, and the condition of the Lake. Fortunately we have had some rains since that helped the water quality a little, but it needs a longterm maintenance plan given the added leap in population growth and temperature change AND majo projects need closer ongoing supervision.

That brings us to Governor Hochul and State oversight of construction project. It's obviously not an easy balance, but on the one hand she is aware of bluegreen algae and cyanobacteria problems across the State of New York this Summer. Her plan to tackle the problem, so far, has been to help out those who want to go swimming and she suggested changing some rules and putting additives in the water bodies where people enjoy recreational boating and swimming. No other details yet, but here again we learned from the Blooming Grove hydrogeologists. Unfortunately, the most common treatment for excessive algae growth is copper sulphate. HOWEVER, they said that with heavy doses copper sulfate can disturb the biometrics of a waterbody's floor, in which case it can negatively affect both inflow and outflow that "bottomgrowth" facilitates.

Hmmm and did anyone ask or test copper sulfate or other chemicals' effect on swans? Would it disturb the bottom of the lake greens that they and the ducks and giant blue herons and other wildlife depend on? Mind you, there has not currently been any suggestion to put copper sulfate in Lake Hildegarde, Let's just say "further studies are probably needed about how copper sulfate affects wildlife in general. AND think about the variety of possible less intrusive solutions. As far as maintaining healthy lakes are concerned, there has been some success elsewhere with bales of barley straw that apparently absorb and diminish toxins, and use of fountains (possibly solar) that keep lake water moving.

More seriously, looking at a primary base cause, population growth (which has prompted Governor Hochul to promote and almost even force massive new building of more and more affordable housing (offering housing to those who need it, but also.increasing population density and the host of negative side effects it can bring) especially in the Orange County area which she considers a high priority due to its proximity to NYC. She has pressed the issue (after an effort to force the issue by requiring percentages of new housing didn't pass due to home rule), sidestepping the block by offering huge monetary incentives to the developers. Bottom line is that the Governor- Environmentalist Kathy Hochul needs to make sure her left hand knows what her right hand is doing!

As for the "Swan or Chicken debate". Don't think yourself or your neighbors are that much smarter. Remember that lamb that wandered around Washingtonville for weeks last month with 100 or more in person sightings and many more online? The one that nearly 1/3 of the people who saw thought was a goat?

We ALL have a lot to learn! And we'd better keep busy at it while our earth is still alive enough to teach us.