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Re: Mute Swan



Hey Jack,
    For the record, those birds were originally introduced at one of the
campgrounds at Surfside Beach (Ocean Lakes or Lakewood,) not Murrells Inlet.
No one I've talked to so far seems to recall the exact year, but think it
was in the mid-80's. As I understand it, the first group were killed,
probably by some of those nice little kids from the south strand area.
Another 2 or 3 pairs were brought in, and they took hold. They spread from
Surfside to Garden City, then to Murrells Inlet.
    We found them with young on our golf course breeding bird survey at Deer
Track and Indigo Creek. They're also breeding in The Lakes subdivision and
at Indian Wells GC.
    I know the Mute Swans are a pain in the butt, but they are right pretty
swimming around on the ponds down that way. No need to worry about them
displacing native species. The rampant development in that area will have
taken care of most of the native species within the next ten years. Just
hide and watch. Almost everything east of the Intracoastal is history,
courtesy of Burroughs and Chapin Corp., their allies in the real estate
community, and our friendly SC Dept. of Transportation. But remember,
they're all working to make this a better place for us.
    Bitter? Cynical? Sarcastic? Who, me? I've looked at too many area tax
maps and researched too many property owners in the past year, y'all. Golf
courses, cookie-cutter sub-divisions, apartment complexes are already laid
out on a number of the maps. And the damned parkway and its embryonic
hell-spawn aren't even near being finished yet. "They" want to rape the area
paralleling the Little Pee Dee River next.
    On the plus side, more places for people to hang up a hummingbird
feeder....
    Progress...yeah, right.

Cheers,

gary

Gary Phillips
Conway, SC
 Zone 8
walela@sccoast.net
"Never has the earth been so lovely nor the sun so bright, as today..."
(Nikinapi)
-----Original Message-----
From: John Peachey <ppaw@sccoast.net>
To: carolinabirds@duke.edu <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Date: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 7:49 PM
Subject: Mute Swan


>
>Hi Carolinabirders,
> I am now counting on my year lists and HBSP list Mute Swan as the birds
>are wandering about from a feral population started at a community in
>Murrells Inlet about 10 years ago.
>
>Jack
>Jack Peachey
>Conway, SC
>