Between the Seward Highway and Hillside neighborhoods, a pair of swans are raising five just-hatched cygnets. This is the first pair of swans to nest at Potter Marsh in the memory of Anchorage Coastal Refuge managers and local birders.

I rarely see trumpeter swans on the lake, and I don't ever remember seeing them so early.

Swans have arrived early in Southeast Alaska this year, with most lakes still frozen and no green grass anywhere. Most lakes are frozen; the swan is sticking to a small patch of water surrounded by ice.