Today I was astonished to see yet another late brood of ducklings on the river, a mother turned up with 8 ducklings looking for food around mid-day. Mindful of the last brood ten days ago that were all killed within 48 hours, I was determined not to let this happen again. I have never seen ducklings hatched this late ever, and I know they would stand no chance of survival beyond a couple of days. They would have to survive 10 weeks until they could fly, this would take them beyond the new year, which is totally impossible !
Later this afternoon I headed down to try and catch both the mother and the ducklings. My heart sank when I saw half a dozen women throwing bread towards the mother and ducklings, with seagulls swirling and diving on the bread !
I explained that they were in danger of having all the ducklings killed by the gulls so they stopped and the mother duck moved away. After an hour or so the mother came over looking for food, the cold and darkness was beginning to fall but I managed to give her some grain with all the ducklings close by.
I took the plunge and grabbed the net, but the mother flew a few yards away before I could catch her. The ducklings were easier to catch and I managed to scoop all 7 that were still alive ! They are now safely in the brooder box under a heat lamp and I'm confident of their survival now.
I know some people will think they should have been left alone to their fate, this I could not bear ! As a member of the top predator species on the Planet, I have merely deprived the lesser predators- namely mink, crows and gulls of a quick meal. Ten days ago I had the chance to save two of the last brood but chickened out, to my regret they were both killed the following day. I could not let it happen again ! I will try and capture the mother if possible, for it would be better if she reared them in the safety of my coop and aviary. At least I know they will survive until I can release them back to the river, and the mother will also survive.
Letting them be killed was not an option for me at this juncture, the nights are long and cold, and there are no insects or food available for the ducklings. Allowing them to be killed would take the total of fatalities this year beyond 100, this is more than the entire mallard population of the river. Short video below
5 comments:
Nature is becoming distorted. It's not as though we've had a long warm summer which would promote late breeding, so it must be the availability of food that's led these poor birds to breed so late into the year
I don't think your hypothesis is correct. The heatwave of March this year prompted most of the ducks to start breeding early, this was then followed by months of cold unseasonal weather, where insect life was almost nil. Brood after brood was wiped out by hungry predators early on, and many ducks had a second, maybe even a third go at breeding ! There is no doubt that climate change is affecting everything, I heard on the news yesterday that the Bees have dropped their production of honey by 70%, due to unseasonal cold conditions.
Well done Joe---your a saviour.
for a so called nature lover you are never done meddling with it.
Could the fact that you feel you need to feed all the bird life mean that the river is an unsuitable environment for them?
Is stealing chicks as serious an offence as stealing eggs?
Well anon, I feed around 50+ birds in my garden every day, and around 120 in the tidal reaches of the river every day. These birds gather in the tidal area every Winter even if I wasn't feeding them, This is their Winter environment. Saving any innocent creature from an undeserved early death I do not consider an offence. Your comment however I do consider an offence.
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