Honey’s back!

March 5, 2020 • 1:30 pm

Well, I’m pretty sure, as the bill patterns match. But let me back up.

Yesterday ten mallards showed up in Botany Pond: five hens and five drakes. When I called to them, at least three hens (and no drakes) came swimming to my whistle, which was suggestive, as the only mallards who have ever come to my whistle are ones who’ve been trained to do so by feeding. Yesterday was my first whistle of the year, and, sure enough, several hens came to me. I didn’t feed them, as I wasn’t sure they weren’t stragglers, but I tried to photograph the bills of the hens, and did so again today. Sure enough, while the hens’ bill patterns differ markedly from one another, one of them matches Honey’s. (The other hens who came may be offspring returning from last year.)

First let’s look at the scene yesterday, when the pond was still partly frozen over.  Some of the ducks are standing on the ice.

Males and females were swimming around. This was clearly not Honey:

Dabbling:

Handsome drakes:

Now THIS looks like Honey. It was taken yesterday.

Let’s have a closeup of the bill. Hmmm. . . .

 

Here’s a picture of the bill of one of the hens from today (there are only two drakes and two hens now). It is surely the same hen as yesterday. But is it Honey?

Now let’s compare the patterns to those of previous years. This is the same side of Honey’s bill from August 12, 2018

Honey’s bill 2018

And the same side of “Katie’s” bill from August 7, 2019 (Katie was later ascertained to be Honey):


 

I’m willing to call this a match. The black triangle where the beak joins the head (slightly lighter this year), the the black dots proceeding up toward the nostril, and, especially, the “M” shaped pattern at the middle of the bill (once likened by a reader to “a dog chasing a motorcyle”—all seem to match in all three years.

UPDATE: I found a picture of the left side of the bill from Honey last year and from this year. While the match is not as obvious, as her black coloration isn’t fully developed yet, I think it’s also a match.

Last year:

This year (today).  The black triangle at the bill base is still there, but not as dark. And everything else looks pretty similar, including the inverted “U” in the middle with two black dots in the center.

Another photo from yesterday:

What do you think? I say it’s my beloved hen. That means that this will be the third year that Honey has returned, or a total of four years overall (I first met her in 2017, when she fledged four). She looks to be in great shape, too. I’ll feed her this afternoon if she’s till there. I hope she stays!

Let’s remember how many offspring she had so far:

2017: Four fledged (I came late in the season, so I don’t know how many hatched)
2018: 10 born, two died as ducklings, total of 8 who fledged.
2019: 10 born, one died unaccountably as a subadult (probably flew into a building). Total: 9 fledged.

Offspring fledged in last three years: 21.  What will we have this year?

I just went down and fed all four ducks a healthy lunch of mealworms and adult duck chow. They were hungry! It’s the first feeding of many to come.

In the offing: ducklings (a month or more).

31 thoughts on “Honey’s back!”

  2. Lord love a duck! Sure looks like Honey to me. But the bevy of birds so early portends a massive population and continuous air and land traffic jam once the young’uns hatch and even more mature ducks arrive. And the fights! Some mathematician ought to be able to work out a formula for their proliferation. You’ll have to get a fork-lift to transport all the feed you’re gonna need.

    1. 😆😆😆🦆🐣

      Isn’t this great news, fun to look forward to the duck saga at Botany Pond.

      1. Saga :

        “
        sa·ga
        /ˈsäɡə/
        Learn to pronounce
        noun
        noun: saga; plural noun: sagas
        a long story of heroic achievement, especially a medieval prose narrative in Old Norse or Old Icelandic.
        “a figure straight out of a Viking saga”
        Similar:
        epic
        chronicle
        legend
        folk tale
        romance
        traditional story
        history
        narrative
        adventure
        fairy story
        myth
        roman-fleuve
        a long, involved story, account, or series of incidents.
        “the saga of her engagement”
        Similar:
        rigmarole
        story
        chain of events
        catalog of disasters
        spiel
        palaver
        Origin

        early 18th century: from Old Norse, literally ‘narrative’; related to saw3.”

        … sounds about right!

  4. Yay, you must be overjoyed! I’m certainly happy. Yet it’s the other side of Honey’s bill with the black triangle that I think is easier to match.

    1. I’ve just added another picture–the left side of the bill–I found from today. The triangle is there, but fainter (the markings do differ in intensity among months). I say it’s a match.

  6. It’s got to be Honey because she’s posing for the photos like a pro. Most hens don’t have the supermodel instinct.

  7. What if she’s an evil twin. 100% of TV series have an evil twin episode. That many TV series can’t be wrong.

    1. With luck the evil twin Honey showing up will turn out just to have been a dream by the season finale…

  8. What wonderful news! I look forward to an excellent spring and summer of duck tales.

  15. I have to say that I find it absolutely adorable how much you love these ducks and your excitement when you see Honey. It just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

  17. Oh, I’m so happy she’s back! I’m really looking forward to your duck (and duckling) photos this year!

  18. I don’t know for sure. What is the post on which Michael F. put up the post with the other comparison a couple (?) of years ago? It looks like this might be Honey.

      1. Yes, the patterns are lighter earlier in the season (as are her feather colors). But the patterns of dark markings are a very good match. I have no doubt this year that it’s Honey.

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