From ORNL to FNAL: A regal gift
Fermilab's swan flock expanded from two to four recently, thanks to employees at Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory. ORNL employees donated two white mutes to the Laboratory and its employees as a gesture of good will.
Fermilab's newest feathered beauties join a mated pair acquired in 1972, also from the Oak Ridge facility. Dave Sauer, Site Services, arranged the transaction. Vivian Jacobs, ORNL Chemical Technology Division and their "swan keeper," said the newcomers were among five cygnets -- four females and a male -- born in May.
The brood, to 13-year-old parents, was the largest number in several years Jacobs said. She explained that ORNL had to find new homes for the cygnets since swan parents eventually turn away their offspring. Sisters of Fermilab's latest regal birds were relocated to a private zoo in Auburn, Ala.
A commercial jet out of Knoxville delivered the Tennessee emigrants to O'Hare Airport. Receiving department personnel chauffeured the birds to their new home on Fermilab's Swan Lake. Bob Kraft, their new guardian, said the swans' wings were clipped to prevent them from flying off and getting lost ... or falling prey to hunters or animal predators.
If the pond freezes this winter, indoor shelter will be provided, Kraft said. Corn, duck feed and cafeteria leftovers such as lettuce comprise their diet. The birds feed by dropping food in water and then quickly sucking it down.
Mute swans are considered the handsomest and easiest to domesticate, Jacobs said. The variety is misnamed, she said, because mutes have a voice, they hiss and even trumpet. Other North American varieties are the trumpeter and whistling swan.
