Boats that Quack.
This video was from more than a year ago as I write - spring 2013. "Quack-Quack", as named by Katrina one of my boat-neighbours, had made a nest among the rooftop herbs and planters on a neighbour's boat. Here she is trying to encourage them to fledge!
This year (I can't help wondering if it was Quack Quack again) made a nest in my mint planter on the bow of Cosmos.
Only 2 of the eggs hatched and on day 1 on the big wide world they required rescuing, having fallen over a concrete ledge which they were just too small to jump back over in spite of the encouragement of mum!
A couple of days later there was only one chick but as I write, at 2 weeks or so old this one, with doting mum, is doing fine. This is actually not a bad survival rate, in the past I've seen broods of 15 be halved after one day and be all gone 3 or 4 days later.
They are of course, from one way of looking at things, a sizable snack for foxes, badgers, mink, stoat, pike, heron magpies and jackdaws, who all have their own lives to live and babies to feed.
If you want to see the only animal that is needlessly cruel to chicks, and many other species, just look in the mirror!
This year (I can't help wondering if it was Quack Quack again) made a nest in my mint planter on the bow of Cosmos.
Only 2 of the eggs hatched and on day 1 on the big wide world they required rescuing, having fallen over a concrete ledge which they were just too small to jump back over in spite of the encouragement of mum!
A couple of days later there was only one chick but as I write, at 2 weeks or so old this one, with doting mum, is doing fine. This is actually not a bad survival rate, in the past I've seen broods of 15 be halved after one day and be all gone 3 or 4 days later.
They are of course, from one way of looking at things, a sizable snack for foxes, badgers, mink, stoat, pike, heron magpies and jackdaws, who all have their own lives to live and babies to feed.
If you want to see the only animal that is needlessly cruel to chicks, and many other species, just look in the mirror!
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| mum on the nest. |
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| The eggs which failed to hatch. The almost translucent one looks as if had developed a long way. |
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| Chicks often stay as close as possible to mum on day one, getting a bit more adventurous as time goes on. |
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| Their 1st exploration, with mum keeping close guard. (The ledge of doom is to the right). |
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| Chicks relaxing on the ledge of doom with ever-watchful mum. A few minutes after I took this they jumped onto this side of it and couldn't get back so I had to go and rescue them! |
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| Photo taken today. Loving mum and one rapidly growing 2 week old. :) |
Labels: Fledging chicks, mallards, nests in strange places.
posted by JT at 16.7.14
2 Comments:
Where's Dad in all this?
Good question Geoff, I've seen no sign of him at any stage I'm afraid.
The ones last spring on the boat roof next door did have a male sharing some of the responsibilities on the whole though, feminism doesn't seem to have made many inroads into the duck world.
They are all individuals however, with something near to equality in some peaceful duck-couples plus gay duck couples and so on. At the other end of the scale I'm afraid rape and even gang-rape is quite commen.
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