Wilde Zwaan Cygnus cygnus voor het vierde jaar broedend in ZW-Drenthe

On 31 March 2008 thefemale was found breeding at the same site as in 2005-07, but on 21 April the nest was abandoned and empty. On 9 May the female incubated a repeat clutch with the vigilance male nearby. The nest contained 5 eggs. On 22 June, after forty days of incubation, the nest again turned out to be abandoned and empty. Since we did not detect traces of predation (Red Fox Vulpus vulpus might be able to predate a Whooper Swan's nest), we suppose that the nest might be emptied by an egg collector. After leaving the nest site the couple stayed in the area till February 2009. In September both moulted their wingfeathers. The two young raised in 2006 and three ofthefour young (one wasfound dead in April) raised in 2007 were observed in the study area till February and April2008 respectively. In May-July they were seen in a wetland near Reilen, 20 km to the northeast and some of them also in the meadows near the nest site in August. Between the end of September 2008 and February 2009 at least the banded young of2007 and most likely also the young of 2006 often were observed in two river valleys near the nest site in SIV-Drenthe. Both parents and young behave like sedentary birds.