I go down to Lake Murray 2-3 times a week in my kayak and for the past several years I was delighted to watch a pair of swans that lived there.
The swans got used to my appearance and would often swim out to greet me. Generally I don't feed wild birds because feeding them things like bread can make the feathers grow faster than other parts causing feathers to stick out at weird angles, a condition called "Angel Wing" See:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo...One time I was out and had a whole wheat bagel that I thought wouldn't harm them too much so I broke off a few pieces and started to feed them. The dominant Swan was hogging all of the food so I started throwing pieces over his head to the other swan. The dominant swan became increasingly agitated and suddenly took off after the less dominant one pecking and beating it with it's wings. It looked like the dominant swan was trying to kill the other!
This continued for about a half hour with the dominant swan giving the other a terrible beating! Eventually the swans moved up to shore where the dominant swan clamped it's beak over the other's neck and strode on top of it.
I thought that I was just observing another example of natures violent lovemaking, and I hoped I could come back later in the year and see fuzzy little cygnets swimming around.
But I came by a couple of days later and the swans were not together, and the one swan looked beat up pretty badly with a stiff neck. I thought it looked at me reproachfully.
I felt terrible about the entire incident. Had I caused the dominant swan to get angry? Had I violated the natural pecking order?
I never saw the two swans together again. They were always on opposite ends of the lake. When I came back the next spring I only saw one of the swans. The other had left the lake. This was the first time I had seen them leave the lake. The next time I came by they were both gone, and then I never saw them again.
Some people say that swans mate for life. It is a nice sentiment and people use it to suggest that humans should mate for life also, but sometimes when there is violence involved I think the couple should split up. This may just be my anthropocentric thinking but i think I saw a display of violence that resulted in a swan divorce, and after that divorce they never got together again and moved away separately.
I later talked to some people who know a bit about swans and they suggested that the couple might have been two male swans. I don't know how to tell the sex of swans but that would explain why over the years I had never seen any offspring.
Gay couples divorce also.