Following my last posting, I was informed about a mother duck with no bill this morning. This is one of the most horrific injuries I have ever seen on a duck in the river. My guess it was caused by an Otter as she was trying to protect her brood. This mother duck had 4 ducklings yesterday but only 3 today, she probably lost her bill whilst trying to defend her youngsters last night.
My priority now is to catch and get her to a vet, and the ducklings into my brooder where I will be able to care for them. I managed to catch one shortly after freeing the swans from fishing line this morning. I have severe bruising to my arms and back, and just to show how dangerous a swan can be if you appear to threaten them or their offspring, I have published the photo of my right arm.
Make no mistake, if this was a child or weak boned person then it would have resulted in a fracture. Worse still is the poor mother duck who will have to be put to sleep, because she will be unable to eat and will starve to death or die from infection This has been a very bad day on the river !
