Friday 1 July 2016

Mallard Call Duck


After the release of the Riverpark duckling brood last week, I was forced to keep two back for different reasons. One of them a female with a drooping wing to be a partner for the white male duck, and the other because it appears to be a bantam Mallard call duck. It was being picked on by all it's siblings since it was only half their size, it would also not have survived in the river because it's wings had not yet fully developed - although all the siblings were on the verge of flight.


It seems the only surviving Mallard male call duck we had on the river since 2012 must have managed to perform at some point ! This presents me with a problem, because I don't want to keep it as a pet since I will have the white one and it's mate. So I have reluctantly bought 6 mixed Call duck eggs to hatch in the incubator. This would give it company and possible mating partner, and all of them could be released together into the river.( I'm a sucker for the underduck ).


The previous 4 Call ducks were released by someone who did not have a pond,  they survived well together until the Mink finally got 3 of them - as well as many others. 

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