Schaumburg swans work at parenting, pest control

Louis and Serena are an attractive young couple from Wisconsin who think of Schaumburg as the perfect place to settle down and raise a family.

Every year.

The mated mute swans returned to Schaumburg's municipal pond Tuesday afternoon to begin their spring nesting and, being very territorial, make sure that any geese in the area make other plans.

The swans' winter lodgings in Wisconsin and transportation to and from Schaumburg are handled by North Barrington-based Knox Swan and Dog.

The firm's principal purpose is to control goose populations for business parks, municipal grounds, park districts and homeowners associations. But clients like the village of Schaumburg enjoy the aesthetic qualities of this particular form of pest control.

"People love them - they really do," Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson said of the swans.

The village began employing Louis and Serena about a decade ago, and are currently on their second pair to bear the names.

The names were the winning entry in a contest among area students when the swans first arrived, Larson said. The nomination came from nearby Collins Elementary School, inspired by the names in E.B. White's children's novel, "The Trumpet of the Swan."

Today's Louis is about 8 years old and Serena is slightly older, said Bob Knox, owner of Knox Swan and Dog.

Swans are generally regarded as a bird that mates for life. While a swan might remate after the death of a "spouse," the bird does actually require a grieving period first, Knox said.

Serena will probably lay between five and seven eggs within the next two weeks. The young cygnets will then hatch about five weeks later.

Though swans are the scourge of geese, they have their own share of enemies to worry about - especially their young. Coyotes, snapping turtles and hawks rank among their predators.

By the time Louis and Serena return to Wisconsin at the end of the summer, their offspring should closely resemble them in appearance. However, breeding in young swans doesn't begin until they're 3 years old.

Barring accidents and predators, a swan can live for more than 20 years. In fact, Knox Swan and Dog has a 26-year-old female that's still laying eggs.

Swans are not put off by cold weather other than that their ponds freeze and make them even more vulnerable to predators.

That's the main reason why the company moves all its swans every winter to a farm in Wisconsin where aerators keep the pond they share from freezing.

Large groups of swans can live together comfortably during the winter, but once breeding season begins they become very aggressive and territorial.

In general, one pair of swans will completely control a single pond or a 10-acre area of land, using intimidation and bullying to drive off other fowl, Knox said.