It’s time for the regular duckling report from Botany Pond. The two broods—Katie’s ten and Anna’s eight—seem to be getting along better. Today both Anna and Katie were foraging on the same patch of grass without animosity, though Anna’s brood was in the water.
I was told by my fellow duck farmers that a Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) landed in a tree by the pond, and everybody began quacking, with both mothers herding their respective broods around them. But night herons don’t pose much threat to week-old ducklings (although the mothers apparently thought so!), and the bird flew away without inflicting harm.
Both broods had two hearty meals today, and all noms have been transferred to my two assistant duck farmers to dispense in my absence.
It’s lovely to watch Anna’s brood foraging among the lily pads, as they’re light enough to walk and lie on the pads without sinking them. Here are some videos and photos of the week-old ducklings foraging:
Here’s Anna’s brood foraging in the water. I think they like to scrape algae off the walls of the pond.
Two cuties:
. . . and two videos of foraging on the pads. I’m told they eat insects and other organic stuff from the pads, as well as bits of the pads themselves, though I haven’t seen the latter activity. It’s very peaceful to watch the young ones combing through the floating vegetation.
Be sure to see the Big Leap at 13 seconds.
The mom ducks were right to be alarmed!! Black-Crowned Night Herons often eat small birds such as the offspring of other birds, including baby egrets and ducklings. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDf3HT5Ie24
I don’t think Jerry should watch this clip.
I’m not going to. And I’m going to be extra watchful for Night Herons.
Please, readers, don’t post clips that show harm coming to ducks or ducklings.
Not long ago,you’d mentioned that the littlest ducklings were light enough to use the lily pads as floats and forage on them, but no video then. I feared that by now they’d grown too large, but these two videos prove me wrong. I’d really wanted to see this I’m delighted to see them in action.
In the first video starting at about 10 seconds in, one of the ducklings is going from pad to pad and seem to use whatever wings he has at this stage of growth to propel himself, and he even seems to be barely airborne for a second
The black-crested night herons are considered endangered in Illinois. But a large colony of these migratory birds nests in Lincoln Park in and around the zoo. I love seeing them over the Summer.
https://www.lpzoo.org/blog/habitual-herons
Still, I’d rather they stayed away from the ducklings.
Very glad to see that the two broods are getting along OK. Any conflict would be most disturbing.
Black-crowned night heron
What lovely videos. It’s really something special to be able to sit by the water and watch the ducks each day.