The story has continued with the pair of mating wild swans who call Mill Creek on the Chelsea/Revere line their home.
The male swan, Gus, arrived at the Creek nearly two years ago, and neighbors on the Chelsea and Revere side befriended the swan (or maybe it was the swan that befriended them).
In any case, Chelsea resident Patricia Buckley has taken to observing and feeding the swans for quite some time.
She and others were very surprised last fall when Gus left his cushy home for about two weeks, only to return with a female.
Soon the pair had mated and, since late May, the female has kept a tidy nest of swan eggs just yards away from the parking lot at the Cronin Skating Rink.
Those eggs hatched earlier this month, with two of the five eggs becoming viable new swans – as shown here.
Sad to say, though, it appears that water rats killed one of the baby swans, and the other appears to have drown. Rats also destroyed the remaining three swan eggs.
“It was a lovely experience watching all this happen,” said Buckley. “There were hundreds of people that were attracted to the nest. A lot of people were talking about it.”