Anna is back co-parenting the mallards with me, and sent three short videos and some pictures. She is now pretty sure that the female is Honey, as she’s friendly, eats from the hand, and comes to Anna’s whistle. Voilà (Anna’s notes are indented):
They’re doing well. Must be Honey. Also she does have the dots on her beak. Now that she’s so friendly I can see them.
She bites a little! Frank was way less bitey.
Corn-ucopia:
And some photos:
Such a beauty. So glad she’s back!
Selfie with Honey.
Clearly Honey has a new gentleman friend; that isn’t James Pond. Would readers like to suggest a name for the drake?
Botany Bill?
Donald is out of the question. Maybe Daffy.
Francis?
Francis Drake.
I’d make that Sir Francis. Honey deserves as much.
We already had one of Honey’s mates named Sir Francis Drake, or “Frank” for short. That name, and James Pond, cannot be used with this new drake.
Then how about Artemis Fowl?
Couldn’t this drake be Frank?! He’s even eating from Anna’s hand. He apparently remembers her.
Furthermore, this guy has the pale chest of the original Sir Francis Drake (aka Frank for the readers who didn’t know of this true fact from last year’s adventures of Honey 🙂 ).
Yes, I also am pretty sure it is Frank. As I said in an earlier post, this breast color is very rare, I had never seen it. Let’s say the frequency of pale-breasted mallards is 0.01. (I think the true frequency is even smaller.) Then the chances of seeing two different ducks of this form on Botany Pond in consecutive years is p^2 = 0.0001. Vanishingly small. On statistical grounds this is almost certainly Frank.
Then my suggested name (Botany Bill) will have to wait to be used in some future year. 🙁
It could be Franks stunt doubill – a ringer
But the pale color could be caused by hybridization with white domestic mallards, no?
Maybe, Jerry, but these are rare in the wild population. When I lived in Milwaukee I saw lots of mallards and never saw one like that.
Honey’s paramours are like hurricanes: once the tempest has quelled, their names are retired.
Millard B. Mallard, Esquire.
That friendly disposition and coming at the whistle firms it up. Honey it is. 😎
Then Honey, it is!
Great news, that perhaps dampens the sadness Jerry must feel when leaving Great Europe for the US.
Also, when filming, rotate the phone 90 degrees 🙂
How ’bout Sir Francis Drake?
Don Ameche Duck. Heaven can wait he’s got Honey!
Robert Maynard Duckins.
I’d like to suggest the name of Sir Francis Drake for Honey’s new beau!
Love your duck blogs!!
I’ll suggest Quackers. Or Quacker Jack.
Trevor (Nuie)
Officer Dabble
I suppose Ducky McDuckface has already been taken.
Jack is a fitting name since he “jacked” Honey from James <3
Billy Wilder
Wilder: “He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.”
It obviously is Honey, and I am so happy for you that she’s back!
This is brilliant imitation by Honey’s formerly institutionalized evil twin sister. She’s been plotting this revenge with her drug lord husband James (AKA Juan Rodrigo Rodriguez) for years. But what’s her end game? And what will happen when Honey recovers from her amnesia and returns?
Find out in the next episode of Angry Catman and the Botany Pond!
-Ryan
“Mr Rad Lake Lad”
= anagram of “mallard drake “.
Or “Caldwell”, because he looks like me!
Glad you got one, possibly two, of your duckies back. I also think it is James because of the readiness to be hand fed.
It can’t be James, his breast is a different color. It is almost surely Frank.
Yeah, and James is quite a bit bigger and his chest is a mottled brown.
How about naming him “Everybody”. That way if people are playing golf and they hit a bad shot, they would call out “hey everybody duck”. The duck, thinking his name was being called, would fly in and be able to spot the errant ball from the air. It would save a lot of money for the golfers.
https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2019/03/28/what-americans-know-about-science/
Drake O’Malfoy.
Has anyone already suggested Mallard Fillmore?
If this was an election, he’d get my vote.
Such wonderful news! How about Count Quackula?