our Royal neighbours

Just over the river on the far bank we have some royal neighbours - Ottawa's Royal Swans.

During summer one swan sat on a nest and everyone around here looked forward to the arrival of some little baby cygnets, but alas, the egg/s didn't hatch.


They are still here though, gliding up and down, and adding to the variety in bird life on the river.


Queen Elizabeth originally gave six pairs to the city to commemorate Canada's centenary, and their descendants are still here, wings clipped to prevent them migrating and interfering with native bird species.

There are some black Australian swans around too, but not in our stretch of the river.

When the weather gets colder the royal and the black swans are gathered up (not sure how) to stay in their winter home (aka "Swantanamo Bay"), which is still outdoors, but just a cage, small pond and a bit of grass.  It's not because of the cold weather, but because the river mostly freezes over so there's not enough food to sustain them.


So any day now we will wake up to find them gone, along with the other birds who are all heading down to their condos in Florida, or wherever they go.  We are often woken in the morning by the sound of geese honking as they fly overhead.  Not sure about the squirrels either, but it's going to be a lot quieter around here soon.