Just a quickie today as I’ve spent a fair amount of time checking on the ducks, making sure that they’re incubating, and writing Facilities so we can collaborate on how to deal with their ducklings’ Great Leap Forward from the window to the ground. That will take place in about 26 days.
Honey was last seen on the pond two days ago, and hasn’t budged from the nest since. Dorothy was seen on the grass yesterday morning, but is now sitting tight in her window. A good bet is that they’ve both begun incubating their eggs and won’t budge, with the possible exception of a quick flight to the pond for a drink, for four weeks. Hens lose about 30% of their body weight since they don’t eat while incubating their eggs.
The two hens are pretty much synchronized, so if all goes well we’ll have two broods at the same developmental stage in the pond. Since Honey and Dorothy are BFFs, I don’t anticipate any conflict at feeding time, but one never knows. Two broods are easier to manage than last year’s three.
So, here is Honey on her nest, sitting tight:
And Dorothy, who has a condo with a pond view (she’s inconspicuous, but is in the lower right-hand corner of the left window:
For the next couple of weeks, we’ll be seeing photos of drakes and turtles, though I have one more batch of Honey + Dorothy + Wingman photos and videos.
Fingers crossed for a successful incubation! I think Honey has 7 or 8 eggs, and who knows with Dorothy? Hatching date: about May 3.
Typo? Shouldn’t it be Just a quackie today?
Your duck stories would make an adorable series/documentary.
An adorable “duckumentary”? I’m blaming GBJames (see above)!
https://explore.org/livecams/bald-eagles/decorah-eagles%EF%BB%BF
this a link to a web cam focused on an eagle’s nest in Decorah, Iowa. I’ve been watching the eagle sit for a couple days, but I just now looked in and see one of the parents feeding two chicks.
I’m already getting anxious.
The Great Leap Forward will hopefully soon be sorted. Then we’ll need a Five Year Plan.
Sounds like Jerry may’ve run outta regular reading material already, so’s tucked into Mao’s Little Red Book. 🙂
Here’s hoping our ducklings steer clear of a Cultural Revolution.
Let’s hope Honey and Dorothy steer clear of the whole century egg thing, too: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg
Maybe Honey’s ducklings should think of the trip from windowsill to Botany Pond as comparable to Mao’s Long March to Yan’an. 🙂
Well, at least Honey and Dorothy are doing something useful while they sit in quarantine.
Yes, much better than sitting on a hoard of toilet rolls like the planet’s self-proclaimed most intelligent species appears to be doing.
OT Jerry, your old ship is in the corona-19 news. So glad your trip didn’t have anything like that.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/sacramento-couple-coronavirus-story-cruise-15184359.php
Goodness!