Swans & Ducks of Southlake

Dear Southlake Neighbors,

Help protect Rambo, Rambette and our other fine feathered friends!

One of our Board members noticed that some of us have been feeding “people food” to our swans and ducks on the lakes. PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!!! It is not good for their health.

Here’s what to do:

• Swans: In summer, the diet of swans consists mainly of aquatic vegetation, eaten while swimming, such as underwater plants and algae (Note: as algae eaters, they can be valuable in shallow bay areas, in rivers and ponds)

  1. found along the banks.

  2. are also insectivores and will eat small insects

  3. other times of year, they also eat cultivated grains in open fields

• Ducks feed off of larvae and pupae usually found under rocks, aquatic animals, plant material, seeds, small fish, snails, and crabs.

• Geese consume a wide variety of plant material, including grass, leaves, roots, etc. They may also feed on aquatic plant material and waste grain left in plowed fields, as well as mollusks, crustaceans and even small fish. Many of them also eat bugs, which makes them an excellent choice for those wishing to control insect populations in the backyard.

Note: Feeding geese is likely to reduce or even eliminate their value as natural insect controller in grassy areas.

You can find more about the right way to feed swans, ducks and geese at this web site: https://www.beautyofbirds.com/swandiet.html

Please join me in enjoying our lakes and helping to care for our friends.

Thanks

Lynn