Auguri! La nascita di cinque cigni! or the unlikely birth of 5 Black Swans in November

After hitting the "post"button for the blog yesterday, I left the apartment to gather Emma at school.  Making our usual after-school visit to the swans, we saw the male strutting about the makeshift house, occasionally honking and spreading his wings regally, and the female inside settling, shifting, settling, making twitchy movements - very odd.  And then I saw a little head poke out from underneath her wing.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  When we returned this morning, it was official.  5 baby chicks, two unhatched eggs (one which they have already rolled out of the next so I guess that one is a dud, the other remains in the nest, so I assume there is still hope).  Evie has been singing "I'm almost hatched!  I'm almost hatched!" from the book Antartica Antics.  Emma has been drawing pictures of swans on everything.  You can't walk about for someone telling you to go up to the lake to see the babies.  Its really something special.