Looking back into my computer photo records for 2006, to prove a point about the yellow/white ducks in the river. We had one before when a mallard duck hatched some ducklings and one was identical to the ones I just released into the river. It was killed by a crow on the 19th May 2006 and I brought it home to measure it because it was already a fair size when killed. The genes of these ducks still exist in the current duck population, it shows that we would and could have other variety of ducks if they were given half a chance to survive ! The light coloured ones stick out and are more easily targeted by the crows. Although yellow when small, they turn white at about 5 weeks old. For comparison sake take a look at the 3 released this week when they were younger, and the pics of the one that was killed back in 2006. If your wondering how I managed to get it after the Crow, a local man saw the Crow grab the duckling and threw a stone at it, the Crow dropped the duckling but it died when it reached the riverbank !
By the way, the latest news on this years duckling numbers is, 58 killed, 16 remaining to date.(they will not be safe for about another 3 weeks )
I see the swans aren't too keen on the Ebay ducks
ReplyDeleteThe white ducks are not Ebay ducks, but the swans instinct is to chase any white birds away from their territory. They did it earlier in the year when a white Muscovy duck turned up on the river.
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