Blooming Grove's Most Delicate Measure of Environmental Health is an A+ This Year

Editorial

Hilde of Lake Hildegarde with her SEVEN new cygnets

For many years Switzerland has said that one of, if not THE most sensitive measure of its Country's Environmental Health Status is the number and health of its Swan Population. This is because they are particularly sensitive to any negative impacts in the Swiss environment.

Having been a big fan of the Mute Swans in Lake Hildegarde for over 25 years (I drive by and watch them nearly every day during the months (approximately late March to mid-November), when they come back from wherever it is that they go for mid-Winter). For me it's a celebration... the best possible sign that Spring is on its way. Then, very quickly, it becomes the nerve-wracking time when mom and dad Mute Swan (Hilde and Garde) disappear into the fields of reeds at the South end of the Lake. Garde usually reappears in a week or so, swimming about the Lake and gathering food. But Hilde is nowhere to be seen, and I worry every day whether she is OK. Actually, just like every year, she laid her clutch of eggs and was busy keeping the eggs warm and protected. I know this...but still worry until she reappears about a month later, usually with about 4 baby swans, called Cygnets. It usually takes 35-40 days for them to become hatchlings, but even though I know that I am very nervous for them when we get to day 30.

SEVEN tiny swan babies show some pretty reassuring health at Blooming Grove's large Lake Hildegarde.

Well, last week Hilde and Garde reappeared. They were wayyy off at the South end of the lake (it's a big lake) and I could see what might be a couple of fluffy balls between them. Thankfully by the following afternoon they were confident in their swimming capability, visited the shore at the North end of Turtle Knoll, and then and gathered at the same little cove on the East side of the Lake. With the vegetation there having gotten very thick (and my desire not to concern them with my presence) I saw Hilde and a bobble of fluffs (lol too jumbled to count), and dad swan about 50 feet out farther in the Lake to monitor and protect them.

Mom Swan, "Hilde" proudly watching and monitoring the baby Cygnets' swim skills.

The Cygnet Flocklet ventures out into the middle of Lake Hildegarde, mom and dad just inches away.

I could not have been happier other than to see them more clearly, and my reaction was instinctive. While our Town's balance of environmental beauty and commercial and housing growth has been precarious this year (with the Lake's edge actually being the border between the Town of Blooming Grove and the Village of South Blooming Grove which has seen the preponderance of growth... thus scattering predators from formerly forested hillsides), by the next morning when I could clearly see SEVEN beautiful little white Cygnets about 40 feet out, showing off their new swim skills. It was like the sun came out after days and weeks of stormy weather. And I knew in my heart that while the struggle to maintain our Town's spectacularly beautiful views from the protected view of Round Hill and the Schunnemunk Ridge, to our many historic large farms, to our numerous colonial sites, and now to our very special Mute Swan Family is not over, IF we keep our environmental perspective strong and active, we're going to be just fine. How do I know? Seven gorgeous Mute Swans say so!

P.S. And by the way, while the threat of overdevelopment is still around us, hundreds of residents were out during "Blooming Grove Clean" earlier this month and did a tremendous job! Instead of Wintery trash our roadsides are displaying phlox-like clusters that we are known for, called "Dame's Rockets".

(Cygnet and Mute Swan images by Edie Johnson)