Well, Honey didn’t lose any time after arriving at Botany Pond; she got down to business within two days. Yesterday she engaged in several courtship bouts with the unnamed drake, and below is a video of one of them. The mutual head bobbing may be a way for the mates to check out each other’s vigor, or it may simply strengthen an already-formed bond.
And there was even more salacious behavior at about 10:30 this morning, for I watched Honey and the drake mate. I was looking at the ducks through binoculars (my office window overlooks the pond) and saw some more head bobbing between the pair. All of a sudden, the drake mounted Honey from behind, forced almost all of her body underwater, and mated with her for about ten seconds.
Now I’m not sure if this resulted in insemination, for mating takes place several times between pairs of ducks, but it’s clear that Honey will soon be preggers if she’s not now.
After the mating was over, Honey flapped her wings vigorously, rising up out of the water, and then lit a cigarette (I’m only kidding about the cigarette). There’s another hen there, too, and I bet this drake will mate with both of them, since there are no other drakes around.
At any rate, if my guess is correct, Honey will start building a nest in a few weeks and we’ll have ducklings by the end of April or the beginning of May. I hope both hens don’t produce offspring at the same time, because, as we learned last year, Honey has a tendency to kidnap another hen’s brood.
And we need a name for the other hen as well as for the drake. Feel free to suggest names.
DUCKLINGS ON THE WAY!
You go, Honey girl! He’s very handsome!
It is truly amazing that the ducks wait for exactly March 1st to mate. I wonder if leap year confuses them. I await my yearly mating on my birthday tomorrow.
Thanks for the laugh!
How about QuackerJack?
Romeo the Seducktive?
Why do I feel dirty after watching that? Well, I guess if you’re gonna do it in a pond, privacy is not a top concern.
Given the speed with which he got round to the activity, perhaps the drake could be “Duck Rogers”? (My suggestion of “Bill Quackston” yesterday attracted the interest it deserved, though it seems that he and Honey are indeed heading for “Big Love”.)
‘Henrietta’ maybe for the other hen?
Maybe thematic names based on the cast of On Golden Pond? Henry (and Jane) Ponda, Katherine Henburn, Duck McKeon, Dabbleney Coleman…
Animal – as in Animal Quackers
“I’m only kidding about the cigarette” – yes, but come hatching time you’ll be pacing up and down nervously with a cigar. 😉
Magellan. He goes “strait” for Honeys’ heart.
I am still holding out for a hen named after your wonderful Senator, Tammy Duckworth.
L
PS: I’m fresh off a kidding of triplet does. Makes up for all those bucks from last year.
You must have felt like a chicken farmer, Linda: “buck, buck, buck!”
Another vote for Duckworth!
Congratulations! Soon another Honey brood to care for.
Becks and Bobby Pond.
That hen of yours is pretty quick to round third base and head home.
She keeps it up, she’s gonna get a reputation.
Taylor Swift is going to be after you now, Ken! https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/02/taylor-swift-rebukes-netflix-over-allegedly-deeply-sexist-joke-about-her-love-life-ginny-and-georgia
What, ’cause I broke the news that Honey puts out? 🙂
Jemima for the hen!
That’s a funny coincidence… I was thinking of that every name too! And maybe Ben for the drake’s name. Or Percy (sorta after the rover Perseverance).
Great news! Better stock up on duckling chow. 😋
Any sign of Dorothy?
Nope.
What’s up with the other hen horning in on the courting couple at the end? Is she trying to break the couple up? Or is it accidental?
Well done, Honey, you little minx!