Welcome to Lost Lagoon
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Welcome to The Swans of Stanley Park and to their home, Lost Lagoon, situated at the entrance of Stanley Park, in Vancouver, Canada. We hope that this web site will bring you closer to this most special part of the wildlife of Lost Lagoon through the year, and will delight, as well as inform.
In addition to reading about the life of each swan, their characteristics and problems and how to treat them, you are welcome to post messages on the 5 message boards, view the photo gallery, rate and suggest pictures, take the "Swan Quiz", suggest articles, add your link, and send us your comments.
When you stroll along the shore of Lost Lagoon, the graceful beauty of the Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) catches your eye as they glide elegantly across the water, but there is a dimension well beyond that first glimpse that touches the heart and endears these proud birds to all who get to know them.
Precious the Swan - East side of the Lagoon as background
Mute swans are native to most of Europe, parts of Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Siberia and China. They have also been introduced into other parts of the world such as New Zealand and North America. In Eastern Europe, swans are wild but in England they have been domesticated for over a thousand years. Tradition tells us that Richard the Lionheart brought swans to Britain from Cyprus after his third crusade, and for centuries, mute swans have been “royal.”
Papa and Mama
In medieval times, the Crown granted special rights to favored noblemen and liveried companies. The custom is carried on today in the annual “Swan Upping” on the River Thames where young Mute Swans’ beaks are marked with the registered symbols of these ancient companies, the Dyers and the Vintners. All unmarked swans are the ‘property of the Queen.’
West side of the Lagoon
Vancouver’s first Mute Swans came as a gift from England around 1889, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that the population became established. Around that time, over 75 swans lived in both Beaver Lake and Lost Lagoon, with a few new birds added over the years as the original number dwindled.
First-time mother Marlika and her 3 cygnets, Spring 2005
Myriad “packaged” descriptions of Mute Swans have long circulated, but as in all of nature, they simply cannot be limited to one-dimensional characters - and they are definitely characters, each in his/her own way!
For example, Precious, the swan of the picture below, had just lost his long-time mate Mrs. P when this picture was taken; he was constantly patrolling the whole lagoon looking for her. You can feel his determination in this picture, you can feel that he is on a mission. Unfortunately, he never found Mrs. P but after a while, life brought him other compensations as you will be able to read in his story.
Precious looking for Mrs. P
Photos courtesy of Fiona Sinclair
Mama and Papa Swan sailed proudly along the channel at their end of the lagoon. They have enough feathers to look regal, as long as Papa doesn’t try to raise his wings too high – they ARE still a bit..
Today is cool and raining, and although that doesn’t put a smile on many visitors’ faces, it’s a happy fleet of swans we see scattered across the lagoon, bouncing on the windswept waves. During the..
I have been lucky enough to be photographing a Mute Swan family since about three weeks before the cygnets were born. It turns out that two of the cygnets are considered Polish Mutes because of their..
Click on the link below the picture to see what happened:
