I had to take a short break from the Barn cleanup Saturday to check out a call about a swan sitting on the side of the road on 9 mile just east of Halsted Rd. When I arrived, he was just sleeping about 10 feet from a fairly busy road. I approached him from the street side where he just sort of stood up and gave me a few hisses (then later kisses 🙂 ). I got close enough to probably just lunge and grab him, but decided to use my net to be sure he didn’t dart out toward the road.
He was pretty calm when I put him in the backseat, but when I started to drive home, he became a little restlessly playful! 🙂 He has no apparent external injuries, but he is currently in a 1,000 sq. ft. pen chilling, while we observe him. If he continues to do fine, eating, etc., he will be released into the GP (general population) in about a week. Any number of things could have caused his predicament: flying into something, older age, unseen sickness, just plain tired, harassment… Time is on his side now that he is less likely to get het by a passing motorist, whether accidently or intentionally, and yes, the latter does happen way too often to swans, sadly! 🙁