Boston's Romeo and Juliet Swans

by Joann Vitali

Title

Boston's Romeo and Juliet Swans

Artist

Joann Vitali

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Romeo and Juliet, the swans that grace the pond in the Public Garden each summer, have been together for 10 years. And while their bond is undeniable, their legacy isn't likely to carry on in the form of baby birds.

Despite the large eggs pedestrians strolling through the park have seen resting in a pile of interwoven twigs on the lawn in recent days, both Romeo and Juliet are female swans, so the eggs won't hatch. The eggs are not fertile. But yearly, [Romeo and Juliet] do lay eggs in the park. Once the eggs are laid, the two female swans do sit on them, then after several weeks they abandon the nest when they realize they won't hatch, says Jacquelyn Goddard, spokesperson for the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.

After some time, the city will retrieve the eggs and remove them from the nest so they don't spoil and begin to rot.

In a statement, officials from the Franklin Park Zoo said Romeo and Juliet, whose names were carried over from their predecessors that were male and female, in order to keep the tradition alive, are the same swans that have been reintroduced to the Public Garden every year since 2003. That's just part of the romance about the park, so they kept the names, Goddard said.

Uploaded

July 9th, 2013

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