How Queen Elizabeth's Gift Turned Lakeland Into Swan City

LAKELAND, FL — While Lakeland's 38 named lakes are home to a variety of majestic native wading birds including egrets, herons and ibis, it's a bird whose origins are in Great Britain that has earned the royal treatment in the city.

On Feb. 8, six months after the death of the United Kingdom's longest-serving monarch — Queen Elizabeth II, who died Sept. 8 at the age of 96 — the city will celebrate the 66th anniversary of its gift of swans from the queen.

In 2022, as Queen Elizabeth II was celebrating her Platinum Jubilee as the reigning monarch for 70 years, the city of Lakeland was celebrating its 65th anniversary, or the Blue Sapphire Jubilee, of the gift of its royal swans that now dominate Lake Morton.

It was on Feb. 8, 1957, that Queen Elizabeth II presented the city with a pair of swans that have become the symbol and mascot of the Florida city.

The swan can be found in the city's logo, in the names of businesses like the Swan Brewing and the Imperial Swan Hotel, in the names of neighborhoods, streets names and events like the annual Lakeland Swan Derby.

There's even a giant swan sculpture at the foot of Main Street by British sculptor Ian Brennan, titled “Mute Swan Protecting Her Cygnets,” donated to the city of Lakeland in honor of the Wolfson family in 2012. The bronze work is a replica of one in England.

But it's the annual Swan Roundup that has become the city's signature event.

Each October for the past 42 years, employees with the city's park division set out in rowboats on Lake Morton, armed with nets to gently gather up the squawking swans and take them to large holding pens on the south side of the lake for their annual wellness examinations.

The two-day roundup and wellness exams allow the Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department to monitor the health and vitality of Lakeland's swan population and ensure that these regal birds are in Lakeland to stay.

It's a task the city doesn't take lightly, said Lakeland's director of parks, Bob Donahay.

“The Lake Morton swans are a community icon and families have been interacting with the birds for decades," Donahay said. "It is very important to us to make sure our Lakeland flock is doing well, so we schedule the Swan Roundup each year with the primary purpose to check on the health of our birds.”

He said the roundup wouldn't be possible without the veterinarians from My Pet's Animal Hospital, who donate their time and expertise to the effort.

The swans were first cared for by the city's original "swan vet," Dr. W.G. Gardner, followed by Dr. Patricia Mattson, who managed the health of the birds for several years before My Pet’s Animal Hospital took over the duty.

“It costs about $10,000 per year to feed and care for Lakeland’s domestic swans," he said. "So, we really appreciate the team at My Pet’s Animal Hospital donating their time and equipment to help care for our flock. We could not do it without their generous support.”

While swans are native to freshwater lakes, ponds and estuaries primarily in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, snowbirds brought native swans with them to their winter homes.

By 1926, Lakeland, which was incorporated on Jan. 1, 1885, had a swan population of 20 and the city established a Swan Department to help oversee their care.

As the population of swans grew, they took up residence in the city's other lakes, including Beulah, Bonny, Hollingsworth, Hunter, Mirror and Wire lakes.

However, the reason that swans aren't native to Florida became apparent when the population began dying out after becoming prey to alligators, various avian diseases and pesticides. By 1954, Lakeland's last swan sang its swan song.

The city attempted to raise money to repopulate the lakes with swans, but was unsuccessful until Queen Elizabeth II came to the rescue.

Former Lakeland residents, Mr. and Mrs. Pickhardt, who were stationed at a U.S. Air Force base in England, heard about the death of the city's last swan and appealed to the queen, who also held the regal title of Seigneur of Swans, for help. The British royal family has tended to flocks of swans since the Middle Ages.

The queen promptly offered to donate a pair of mated swans from her royal flock.

Getting the swans from London to Lakeland was no easy feat, however. The pair was taken from their roost along the Thames River outside of London just as an oil barge sank and contaminated the royal flock, including the two swans bound for Lakeland.

The process to restore the oil-soaked birds to good health took more than five months. Finally, arrangements were made to fly the swans to America at a cost of $300. Since the city had only raised $7 for the swans' transportation and licensing, the cities of St. Petersburg and Orlando chipped in.

Before the swans could make it to their final destination, they had to be quarantined in New Jersey for two weeks.

On Feb. 8, 1957, the swans finally arrived at Drane Field Airport (now Lakeland Linder International Airport), where they were met by the mayor and the president of the chamber of commerce and escorted to Lake Morton by motorcade.

A crowd of residents gathered to watch the long-awaited moment when the elegant mute swans, Cygnus olor, the species of swan immortalized in Russian ballets and European fairy tales, were released into the lake.

But the community's excitement quickly turned to dismay, according to the city's "swan history" maintained at the Lakeland Regional Library.

The day after the swans were released in Lake Morton, the female swan was found floating across the water on her own.

It hadn't occurred to city officials that swans could fly, so they hadn't clipped the swans' wings before releasing them.

What followed was a frantic, all-out search by helicopter, rowboat and canoe for the missing male swan that included agents of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, Lakeland police, parks staff and volunteers from the community.

In the following days, the city was flooded by calls of swan sightings, but the male swan managed to elude all of his would-be captors.

Finally, the male swan, which had apparently gone on a sightseeing tour, returned to his mate at Lake Morton, and the city promptly clipped the swans' wings.

While the community eagerly awaited signs that the swans, who mate for life, were building a nest, tragedy struck once again. The male swan was fatally injured before the female had a chance to nest and continue the royal lineage.

Unsure if the female swan would accept a "commoner," the city nevertheless decided to take the female swan to a Florida swannery to see if she would select a mate. To everyone's relief, she chose a tundra swan, Cygnus columbianus, also known as the whistling swan, which is native to North America.

And the following spring, the couple's first babies, called cygnets, hatched.

The swan saga has been documented in the "swan story board" at the Lakeland History Room of the Lakeland Public Library, where librarian Serena Bailey has put together a collection of newspaper clippings, original photos and written remembrances of the city's most famous feathered friends.