We have a passel of duck photos from our Secret Duck Farmer (SDF). You’ll be happy to know that all 27 ducklings and three moms are doing well and eating heartily. And we’ve ordered more duck food to ensure that nobody goes hungry. The SDF’s comments are indented, while mine are flush left:
From June 26th:
The new wee ones are soooo adorable, I swear they’re smaller than Anna’s were when we first met them.
From yesterday:
I stopped by the pond before I went home and spent close to two hours. It sometimes takes a while to keep everyone apart and give them food, especially if Katie and her brood feel that all food should be theirs. Those babies are so big they can cover a lot of ground. I remembered the lettuce today which Katie’s brood loves.
All 27 ducklings seem to be happy and thriving. Anna’s ducklings get bigger and more feathered every day. Everyone ate well. The new mom and her brood spend a lot of time on and near the duck ramp and take advantage of the relative safety in the plants near the ramp.
The duckling ramp is quite busy (thanks again to Facilities for building it). And Brood #3 has already learned to use it.
Katie and her brood do sometimes give chase even to the newest babies, but mostly it’s just squabbling between the moms. The mystery hen showed up again and all three moms tried to chase her away until she finally flew away. The new mom took her brood for a walk over the bridge and then along the edge of the pond.
I well remember chasing this hen from the front of the building into the pond, with her ducklings following close behind. She jumped into the water, the young ones hesitated a bit, and then did the Big Leap. The rest is history:
Another part of Brood #3’s Great Circumambulation of the Pond:
People have wondered whether the new hen, the mother of Brood #3 (I’m considering naming her Daphe or Daisy) is actually Honey. We’re not sure, but the SDF tried to take beak photos. From what we see so far, I don’t think this is Honey’s beak. But we’ll have better photos by Monday:
A mystery fourth hen has appeared in the pond; she seems to be the dark-billed one who’s appeared sporadically. She shows up sufficiently often that we don’t think she’s incubating eggs, but Ceiling Cat help us if she is! She isn’t Honey, either. Let’s check in on her:
Here are photos of the mystery 4th hen.
And here are a couple of shots of Anna and Katie so that new mom and brood don’t get all the love just because they are new and adorable.
Anna and two of her brood. Notice how big they’ve gotten. Our SDF says that yesterday their first feathers were seen coming in:
And have a look at how big Katie’s “ducklings” are. Is it kosher now to call them “ducks”?
this SDF business is getting intriguing….
nice update!
I’m having mental images of “SDF”-person in a spandex suit of 70s kitsch with stitched on feathers … sorry, it’s all going technicolour and I’m getting KAPOW static from the POW! Batman channel breaking though.
Tune in next time for the adventures of Angry Catman and the SDF in
DUCKLING TROUBLE!
-Ryan
If Facilities are getting a bouquet for the duck ramp instead of their normal diet of brickbats, do they have other ponds in their balliwick where a similar ramp would be useful?
Nope; there’s only one pond like this on campus, though there’s supposed to be a small basin at the Lab School.
I have to think these mothers are offspring of the first couple. They remembered the good times and ample noms and came back to breed at Botany Pond.
I was wondering the same thing. A database of duck-bill photographs might be needed to keep track of who’s who from one year to the next.
Thinking the same thing.
I suppose flying is the real test, but to me Katie’s brood sure look like ducks now, not ducklings.
Perhaps the larger ducklings could be called ducklets?
The word is out and the duck world will come where there is such easy pickings!
And not too many duck hunters in the middle of Chicago.
“Lord luv a duck”. Or, as in this case “ducks”, and “lord” is translated as Professor Emeritas Coyne. Kudos to him and his assistants. May the ducks keep on coming.
Just wanted to say a big thank you to all the people participating in the Legendary Duck Husbandry Adventure at Botany Pond. You are all wonderfully kind and generous.
Guess the word is out: Free noms at Jerry’s!