Neighbors help swan make annual trip home
“Pocahontas,” a swan living at the Triple B ranch, makes her way to the Mallard Loop pond each summer.
"Pocahontas," a swan living at the Triple B ranch, makes her way to the Mallard Loop pond each summer.
"Pocahontas," a swan living at the Triple B ranch, makes her way to the Mallard Loop pond each summer.
For the last five years Mario Benedict has helped relocate a swan from the frozen Mallard Loop pond.
A swan living at the Triple B Ranch makes her way to the Mallard Loop pond each summer and once it freezes she has to be returned to the ranch’s pond. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Each fall, like clockwork, a chill comes to the air and the leaves change color. The days grow shorter, and as the pond behind Mallard Loop slowly begins to freeze, a certain swan awaits its rescue.
“It’s pretty funny, it’s comical,” says Mario Benedict, whose back porch overlooks the pond. “We get her in the front seat of the car and take her back every winter.”
For the last five years, the swan has walked a mile and a half down Hodgson Road from her permanent pond at Triple B Ranch to bask in the Mallard Loop pond. Most years it’s Benedict and his neighbor Jerry Kutzman who take her back home when winter arrives.
The first time Benedict saw the swan stranded in the freezing pond, he called up the swan’s owner Nick Lombardi to figure out what to do.
“I said ‘come on down, we’ll try to catch her and get her back home.’ He ended up taking her home in the front seat of his car,” Benedict says with a laugh.
Lombardi originally purchased the swan five years ago along with her mated pair, who would join her on the trip, but two years ago the male never returned from the pond. It’s unclear to Benedict and his neighbors why the lone swan makes her annual trip, but Benedict posits that it has something to do with the dense foliage of the pond and the vast amount of food available there.
One year Lombardi lined the bottom of the white fence surrounding the ranch with chicken wire, hoping to keep the swan from heading down the road, according to Benedict.
“She’s smarter than that,” Benedict says. “She goes out the gate, because the gate is always open. Down the road she comes.”
Lombardi said he doesn’t mind the swan leaving, it’s the danger of walking down a busy road that bothers him.
“It’s just a concern, because she does walk to the pond which means she’s got to cross Whitefish Stage Road to get there,” Lombardi said. “We’re always worried about her getting hit.”
As to why the swan doesn’t know to leave when ice begins to form, Benedict says he doesn’t really have a clue.
“No one’s ever seen her walk back, that’s what’s weird. She just hunkers down,” he says.
Since then the swan, affectionately named Pocahontas by Benedict and his neighbors, has become a sort of community pet. A friend phoned him to let him know she saw a mention in the newspaper of a swan obstructing traffic, and even family members who don’t live in the area ask how the swan is doing.
“Everybody down here expects to see her in the summertime,” Benedict says.
Benedict recalls the look of horror on a neighbor’s face when she saw him carrying the swan, its head drooped down and unmoving. She thought the swan was dead, but Benedict assured her it was fine, just cold from the layer of frost that had built up on its wings.
“She had these big ice crystals all over,” he says. “But when I got her back over there, she was in the pond flicking water in the air and just having a great time.”
Since Benedict had never interacted with swans before one started showing up in his backyard, he says he didn’t really know what to expect when he approached it. Since the swan’s wings are clipped, however, tracking her down isn’t too difficult.
“She’s easy to catch. She runs out of gas real quick when she’s running down there. She’ll just sit down after she runs about 20 or 30 feet,” he said. “Never tries to peck at you. Once you get a hold of her she’s just docile like someone’s pet.”
Benedict also thinks there’s a bit of a deeper, more personal interest in helping the swan.
“When I was younger, my dad carved ice and I’ve always had a love for swans. We carved many ice carvings, and most of them were swans for weddings and stuff. I think it strikes home a little bit,” he said.