What happens to Lake Eola swans during hurricanes? It’s their call.

As an Orlando Weekly reporter walked through the streets of downtown Orlando early Wednesday morning, assessing the vibe of the city ahead of Hurricane Milton, she noticed that a number of swans and ducks at Lake Eola Park were still floating by on the lake, amid light rainfall and winds just strong enough to signal that something worse was on the way.

So, Orlando Weekly staff asked themselves: What actually does happen to Lake Eola’s swans (purchased for thousands of dollars with city funds) when major storms like Hurricane Milton are expected to come through?

According to the city, the answer is: That’s not our responsibility. It’s the swans’ call.

“During hurricanes, swans are resilient and adapt to environmental changes,” city spokesperson Ashley Papagni told Orlando Weekly in response to an email inquiry. “They naturally find places for shelter and they fared well during Hurricane Ian.”

The city of Orlando recently welcomed six new swans to downtown’s Lake Eola Park,  including two Australian black, two whooper and two trumpeter swans.

According to city records, the swans were purchased for the park using $19,500 in funds from District 4 city commissioner Patty Sheehan’s discretionary budget, after reports that several swans had recently died of bird flu. Lake Eola Park is currently home to at least five different swan breeds, including trumpeter swans, black neck, whooper, royal mute and Australian black swans.

Orlando’s not alone in letting swans figure out their own hurricane response. During Hurricane Charley, 20 years ago, city officials in Lakeland, Florida (aka Swan City) similarly came to the conclusion that swans were best left to fend for themselves, and they all reportedly survived. “The swans have survived every major event on their own. It’s more effective than us messing with them,” then-director of Parks and Recreation Bill Tinsley told The Ledger after the fact.

According to Lklnd Now, a local nonprofit news publication in Lakeland, that city is also planning to let their iconic swans do their own thing as Hurricane Milton, a storm expected to cause life-threatening storm surge on Florida’s Gulf Coast, approaches.

“They are wild animals and they have weathered many a storm,” said city of Lakeland communications director Kevin Cook in an update on the city’s hurricane preparations.

As of publication, no evacuation orders have been issued in Orange County (neither for swans nor people), unlike on Florida’s Gulf Coast, where the Category 4 storm is expected to make landfall Wednesday night. Hurricane Milton is projected to reach Orlando early Thursday as a Category 1 or Category 2 storm, and the area is under a tornado and flood watch as of Wednesday afternoon. Strong winds of 80-plus mph are expected for the area, and Orange County is also at risk for flash flooding.

According to the city of Orlando, all city lakes (presumably that includes Lake Eola) have been lowered “to the lowest possible level” ahead of Milton’s arrival.

Digital editor Chloe Greenberg contributed to this report.

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This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2024.