Ducklings - Mother Knows Best

Have had several calls for advice on ducklings. Some people are concerned when seeing them in Town far from water trying to make their way back to the river. My experience tells me that Mother Duck knows best , and we should assist only when they are in mortal danger. Some useful things to know about ducks and their behaviour. 

The females often choose a nice quiet garden with shrubs and bushes to nest under, it might be half a mile from water. Her mate or mates will usually hang around the area for a while until she has laid all her eggs , which takes about 2 weeks, then she sits on them to incubate for 4 weeks until they hatch. The mates usually have cleared off before then, and leave her to get on with it in peace. 

With so many dogs around nowadays, secluded gardens are safer than the river banks. The nest area is spotted from the air and ducks have panoramic vision, so they know how to walk back to the river or any other nearby watercourse. When you spot a duck with a brood of ducklings walking through the streets, do not try to make them change direction... they know where they are heading. Helping them get there can be done by walking about 4 metres behind and stopping traffic when crossing a busy road. I have often successfully escorted mother and ducklings across town from the west end to the river by doing the above. 

Remember , don't walk in front or try to lead them, they know the way they want to go. Female ducks by the way are the only ones who Quack, the males don't. If they have chosen a walled or enclosed  garden  to nest, and cant get their ducklings out, they do tend to make a lot of noise and fuss in desperation, that's when you can open a gate or catch the ducklings and let the mother lead them to the riverside. They rarely leave or abandon them, so let them do their thing. 

Newly hatched ducklings do not need food for the first day, as they are living on their yolk sac , do not throw bread to them this will only attract predatory Crows and Gulls. 

If you are lucky enough to have ducklings in your garden, just make sure they have access to drinking water. Short video below.

Natural Beauty

Penny and Duke have almost completed the regrowth of new feathers and should be able to fly within days, they are looking good.

Meanwhile the ducklings are little sleeping beauties.

The Heron as always, is on the lookout for anything edible - be it fish or waterfowl.  

Wistful Penny

What turned out to be a beautiful evening had an extra golden touch for me. 

As the Sun sunk low over the Swans island, a mother duck escorted her brood along the waters edge watched by a very wistful looking Penny. 

She was only a few feet away and had a long lingering look at the tiny ducklings, I wondered what thoughts may have passed through her mind ?

Easter Monday

Our Two rescued Ducklings have settled in well, and am truly thankful they have each others company.

Ducks are very gregarious and need companionship. 

Sitting underneath a photo of an adult will have to suffice until Disco hatches her brood later this week. 

Meanwhile they have enjoyed a bath on this lovely hot day ! 

This Week

Been a good week weather wise, and long may it continue ! 

Pigeon with the broken leg made a complete recovery, and today I bade her farewell and let her rejoin the town flock. It was a pleasure caring for her since she was so gentle and not a problem. A few days ago she was standing in her water bowl on top of the book case, so I gave her a bath in the sink. She thoroughly enjoyed the soaking , especially under her wings.

The 9 ducklings rescued prior to the big Bertha flood are almost fully grown after nearly 7 weeks, ( short clip below ) and will be returned to the river in 2 weeks time when they should be on the verge of flight. 

The other 8 hatched ducklings from the abandoned nest are growing, and the last two which I had to help out of the shells are finally starting to catch up with the stronger ones.

Nairn swans are also doing well and have frequent trips to the sea, but still come back up river for their vital supplementary feeding.

The autumn evening chill seems to herald the cheery twittering of the Robin, always enjoyable to hear them sing.

  

Back From The Brink

After another tense two days hatching, the last surviving duckling finally emerged. From the 10 viable eggs in the incubator,  8 eventually made it with two unable to break a hole in the shells.

At one point I thought there would only be 5 survivors as the others also were unable to make a hole in the shell. Having done some research, I decided to immerse the eggs in warm water for a minute or so, being careful to avoid water entering the egg. This has the effect of softening the membrane inside, allowing the ducklings to break through. 

Within a few hours 3 more managed to break out. The last one is a light coloured one similar to the sister of the mother duck.

These little beauties will have to be kept for many weeks since I was unable to catch the mother to rear them. I did try a surrogate mother by catching her sister, but she would not sit on the eggs, 

this would have reduced the time I will have to keep them before returning them safely to the river.

First Island Brood

Today I saw my first brood of Ducklings on the river, the mother appeared from the Swans island with 6 tiny ducklings. As always, they are incredibly cute and endearing, after a brief swim she took them back onto the island for a warm up.

The weather could have been better with a chilly sea breeze blowing up the riverside.

Hoping this is the first brood of many, for we will no doubt lose the majority to predators - this is the saddest part of spring for me. I would ask people not to attempt throwing bread to these tiny ducklings , since they are too small to eat it and only attracts crows and gulls to their presence, please don't do it.

Delightful Ducks

Locally I reckon this is the best Summer we've had in living memory, nearly 3 months of good weather ! It has been a good year for the river birds with 49 new Mallard ducklings surviving so far. This looks like the best ever season for duck survival , and is exclusively down to the good weather. I noticed another mother duck with 3 ducklings arrive on the tidal stretch today,

the ducklings were about 6 weeks old and full of spirit. They had a go at chasing some adults, which is amusing to watch as the adults scoot away from the little aggressors.

Ducks are delightful creatures, and many are now gathering on the lower river now that the breeding season is all but over. Yesterday I took a short video prior to feeding them, the clamour below shows how much they look forward to their food !

The Good The Bad and The Lovely

This has been a good year for the river waterfowl, the Swans have produced their best ever brood and the surviving ducklings to date number 47, the best year ever !  A combination of factors coming together made all the difference.

The biggest of these was the weather, a cold spring looked like it was going to be a repeat of the last couple of years and the ducks delayed nesting, then the summer arrived. Above average temperatures meant plenty of insect life, short warm nights, and lots of algae and weed growth in the river. It also meant the crows were finished feeding their young before all the ducklings showed up on the river. 

Record low water level, and probably the best summer we have had since the 70s, and hopefully it's not over yet.

The recent bad was the death of Faith, the mother duck who lost her Bill. Then the fact that my beautiful woodpigeon Woody has probably been killed by a predator. 

It is now 3 weeks since he last came back for his favourite sunflower seeds and lettuce. This means the two wood pigeons that I reared successfully are both gone. He was a remarkable bird that crossed the divide between man and bird, and I miss him a lot.

He survived several months in the wild, and I thought he might be lucky and avoid being killed, even though he was never taught survival by a parent bird. 
The lovely, are of course the waterfowl and ducklings in particular,

they are endearing creatures and the more I study them the more interesting they become.

Keeping Cool

The fabulous summer continues, best I can remember for a long time! It suits the wildlife too, plenty of insect life and less food needed because of the heat. The river level is the lowest I have ever seen, and the waterfowl enjoy the ability to keep cool.

 The ducklings come into the hall or under a bush for the shade. 

Woody my beautiful wood pigeon, returns daily for his special treat which is sunflower seeds and crispy cold spinach from the chiller, - he just loves it ! Short video below of Woody eating spinach in the cool of the kitchen.

Faith's New Family

After a restful night, I put Faith our new bill-less duck into the Aviary ready to meet her new family, which was her own 3 ducklings and 4 older motherless ones badly in need of a mother.

 The ducklings headed straight for her, and she immediately recognised her offspring and allowed them close contact, she then nuzzled one of the older ones but showed no signs of rejection, it was just as I hoped ! This remarkable duck  is not only brave in adversity but a generous Mother as well.
I tube fed her 3 times today for she has lost a lot of weight, she does not make a fuss and allows me to pick her up without avoidance and struggles, which would normally be the case with a wild duck, she knows I am looking out for her, which is great. I also noticed she does have the ability to take a drop of water at a time, literally a drop, for she has no bottom part to her bill at all.

How to Hassle a Heron

It made a refreshing change to see the Links ducklings getting a lesson from Mum on how to hassle a duckling Killer. 

 The Heron was doing a spot of Salmon Parr fishing when the ducklings decided to inspect what was going on. 

They got a close up of that deadly beak and the speed at which it can operate !

 The Heron missed out and decided to move to pastures new, only to be followed by the inquisitive ducklings.

Sequence of distance pics tells the story.