Gracey, Don’t Freeze!

Swans mate for life. When you see a lonely adult swan swimming by itself, it’s most probably either because it is too young to have found a partner or because it already lost its mate.

About five years ago when I moved to north-western Pennsylvania for a job, I discovered a lonely swan on a small lake in our local park in Sharon, PA. I have a special affinity to swans, mostly due to my Russian heritage, love of Russian history and Russian medieval kings’ love of swans. There were times in Russian history when swans were a part of the heraldica of every Russian king as a symbol of grace and purity. They were also hunted for and roasted whole, as in the painting of a 17th century Russian wedding by a prominent Russian artist below.

When I asked Sharon residents why the swan was alone, they said that some years before its mate had been killed by a car. The lonely swan became a fixture in the park, many people came to the lake to look at it and feed it discretely (there was a big sign on the lake’s walking path warning not to feed the fowl). I visited with the swan on my daily walks and pretty soon it started to recognize me and swim along my route around the lake, following me. I gave the swan the name – Grace – because it was the grace itself embodied and because the name can be both male and female. When I came and called it by its name, it would always swim closer to me so I thought it liked the name as well. Or maybe Grace came to everyone who’d feed it.

One day, I came for my walk and didn’t find Grace. I was in distress. I asked a couple of people I ran into and a park ranger about the swan but they didn’t know what happened to it. The next day, one of my Facebook friends sent me a link to an article from the local newspaper saying that the swan had been found dead on the lake. Apparently, Grace died a natural death of old age.

For at least one winter, the lake had no swans. Lots of boldly loud Canadian geese and wild ducks, but no swans. Local residents were telling me that the lake was on the swan migration route so sooner or later we’d get them again. I was hopeful, looking out for swans on my daily walks.

And then one day in October 2020, a swan was there! I was happy beyond words. I came up to it really close, wishing I had something to give it for food, and sat on a park bench just watching it gracefully swimming around yards away. It was clearly younger than the previous swan, not as big and a lot more energetic. I called it Grace 2.0 or Gracey. I liked to think that it could be the previous couple’s youngling who knew the road to the lake from its childhood. Otherwise, how would you explain that the swan was again alone, given that they mate for life?

Over time, we also became good friends. I’d bring Gracey some bread and feed it. I brought more than one swan could eat because it was always surrounded by a big flock of ducks. They were aggressive and competitive with each other but always stayed feet behind Gracey, happy to pick up what was given to them or what Gracey missed. Gracey didn’t mind ducks eating the bread as well, seemingly above the ducks’ petty squabbles for food.

I often thought about Gracey being alone there on the lake. It must be sad not to have one of your own kind to share your life with. I was hoping that it would be able to find a mate on its next migration. It would be nice to have a couple of swans on our lake. The people liked them, especially the kids, who screamed with joy and excitement when they saw the swan. One day in Grace 1.0 time I was pleasantly surprised that someone had built a wooden home for the swan. It was the right size, with two entry and exit points for easy access. And it was set up right on the water, sitting on a pole. I never saw Gracey swimming in or out of it but I thought it was nice for the people to take care of the bird that way.

In 2020-21, we had an unusually cold winter. It was the era of the pandemic, and the nature seemed to have gone wild and extreme in every respect, especially in how cold it got in the winter and hot in the summer. The lake, which never froze entirely in all my time in north-western Pennsylvania, started to freeze rapidly. During a particularly cold week in February 2021, I would come to the lake every day just to check how much of the water was still not frozen for Gracey and the ducks to swim in. Gracey was still surrounded by the ducks, but the circle of water got smaller with every passing cold day. It was good that there were still ducks remaining on the lake, because their small army kept peddling the water around the swan, preventing it from freezing completely. I would bring them all bread, despite the warning sign, because there was hardly anyone going out there on those cold days and I was sure the fowl had very little food left in the lake in the freezing temperatures. They were always happy to see me and ate everything I brought for them.

And then I came there on February 11 and the lake was completely frozen. It froze over in just one night, leaving no water for the swan and ducks. They were all gone! I went around the entire lake looking for them, hoping that they’d cuddled up somewhere together to survive the freeze. No luck, they were nowhere to be found. I had my warmest clothes on: bundled in a wool hat, scarf and gloves, a long winter jacket on top of a cashmere sweater with thermal underwear beneath it and heavily insulated long boots. I was walking around the lake briskly but I still got cold in about 25 minutes. Not seeing Gracey anywhere, I was worried, even though my local friends on Facebook kept telling me that these birds were hardy and they’d surely survived colder temperatures before. I spent about an hour looking for the fowl, got frozen to the extent where I couldn’t feel my hands and nose anymore, and went home in distress, worried about the birds.

Next day, I went to the lake again. It was still cold, even colder than the day before, so I was ready not to see the birds. The questions I had on a loop in my mind were if they were still alive and where would they have all gone, given that everything in their flying distance was cold and frozen over. And then I remembered about that little house someone had built on the lake. I went there, got to it as close as I could and sure enough, Gracey and the ducks were there! Gracey was sitting on the floor in the middle, and the ducks cuddled tightly around her as if they were her ducklings, getting the warmth of their mother. I wish I had a blanket to cover them all, so cold they looked to me. I spread bread crumbs for them several feet away and left, relieved that they were still there and alive.

A couple of days later, the freeze released its grip on the lake and our region. The lake started to gradually thaw and Gracey and the ducks were swimming in the water again. I was happy they survived the deep freeze. Hopefully, next time Gracey comes to the lake in October she will bring a mate and they will have some swanlings. It would be nice to have a whole swan family on our beautiful little lake.