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http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/8/19/oblivious_to_cars_sw.html (http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/8/19/oblivious_to_cars_sw.html)

“She’s one stubborn swan,” city swan caretaker Steve Platt said. "She really likes that storm drain.”

Lakeland Swan Gives Up Fight, Abandons Nest Near Road

LAKELAND | The bird has moved.

All it took was gentle persuasion in the form of a metal bench and neon cones. And a persistence that rivaled that of the young swan, who insisted on nesting, or pseudo-nesting, on a Lake Morton Drive curb.

The bird made a storm drain on the waterside of Lake Morton Drive near South Vermont Avenue home for a month until sometime Saturday, said Samantha Drew, a city parks worker who cares for the birds.

The swan had first tried nesting on top of the storm drain grate — directly on the road. Drew managed to get her to move on to the curb, above the drain and feet from passing cars.

That's where the bird made her last stand, rooting her way between cones and under a bench city workers placed on the spot to block her. Her mate would charge workers who came too close. The bird spent her time gathering dead grass and leaves for an out-of-season nest that never quite held together.

Friday afternoon Drew shooed her away and tried moving the bench back a few more inches, completely blocking the spot.

Eminent domain prevailed.

When Drew came to feed the swans Saturday, the bird was swimming in the lake with her mate. The piece of real estate she defended for a month was empty, and she apparently never laid eggs.

Drew was relieved.

“That's a really sharp curb that only takes a second for people to drive up on,” she said.

The city plans to keep the bench and cones on the spot a few more days to make sure the bird doesn't return.

(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r32/djweeds/swan.jpg)

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