Not many birds intimidate me, but swans and large geese do a pretty good job of keeping me at bay. I hope you get your gazebo fixed up before the momma lays eggs/begins sitting. That male will eat you for breakfast once that happens.
Have you considered fencing the nest off so they can have access to the water, but not the rest of your property> Even a half-baked job of cheap fence should do the trick (T-posts and chicken wire?). Someone would have to stand guard with a broom while another person did the work of driving posts and stringing fence.
Take care,
Carla

Lovely nest. Trielysian, what is that item in front, in black; looks like binoculars or a headlamp? I can't believe those fowl would steal a toolbelt LOL! Crafty little devils aren't they?

Maybe, the female swan is giving her husband a hard time because your gazbo looked better than their nest! Sooo, he stole the tools to stop construction!! :) Good luck in getting back the workers belongings... Debbie

Poochella the black thing is the light fixture that was suppose to be hung on the gazebo, they took it right out of the box.

CCox there is really no way to fence these guys off in a temporary manner. The water litterally drops to around 8-10 deep right off the bank in the area they are at. We have done alot of fencing in the water, standing in an airboat. We build our duck houses so that the mother ducks and babies are caged with access to the water (I don't like cleaning up after baby ducks). The cage in the pic happens to be one that connects to a house that the chickens took over, which is right next to the swans nest.

We have floating rafts with wooden houses on them which the swans have used in the past. This year I think the otters might be bothering them so they decided to move on land.

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duck cage
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duck cage
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The island where the swans are
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Gazebo and where the nest is
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She is sitting

Wow! I would love to be a duck at your place (if the swans left me alone)- it's like Disneyland. What a great playground you have to enjoy. Very cool.
Poochella

What are the giant black birds on the bridge from your place to the island? In the pic, they look almost like wild turkeys.
Hey, what about a hotwire. Tall enough for the ducks to scoot under and low enough for you to step over? It seems a shame not to be able to use the island all spring/summer.
Carla

CCox they are turkeys, I have aroung 25 of them. They keep an eye on things.

I am hoping after the eggs hatch the swans will just move to another part of the property like they have in the past. They never stay where the nest has been and even though they are very protective of the babies they aren't anywhere near as mean as they are right now. The others haven't even started nests yet so we will see.

Thanks for posting such interesting photos. Boy, swans sure make huge nests. And she looks so graceful and pretty sitting on it.

Omg this is so neat. I know it has been ages since anyone posted to this message but I was so curious how things worked out with the swans.