Several readers pointed out to me that I omitted the Hili dialogue, which is my fault entirely. So, here you go:
Hili: A seagull is walking on our grass.A: So what?Hili: I will chase her away.
In Polish:
Hili: Mewa chodzi po naszym trawniku.Ja: I co z tego?Hili: Zaraz ją wygonię.
And “Cats in Paulina’s Lens” (In Polish: {Koty w Pauliny obiektywie.”) Three Kulkas and a Szaron:
Sanity is restored!
What, yours?!I A Buddy Holly hit comes to mind…
More seriously, particularly lovely photos of (not so) little Kulka.The
Edit: Oops, corrected Everly Brothers to Buddy Holly!
The World’s!
That’ll [also] be the day, sadly…
Are you familiar with imprinting? It occurs to me that the single duckling became imprinted on human beings and did not fully adhere to the family group under the females care. By being isolated and somewhat separate it became more susceptible to attack by the other female present just a thought.
Konrad Lorenz…
For many reasons this doesn’t explain the incidents we’ve had. We’ve never failed to integrate a duck with its mother despite several days of human case. In the latest one, the other kept trying to go to the baby, but it was too weak or too cold to swim.
Imprinting in mallards occurs soon after hatching. Less likely after that. Is there any chance the other ducks were already imprinted by the time you fostered them? Did this year’s dDuckling ever have a chance to imprint on the adult female, or did it go human soon after hatching?
I am probably ignorant of the subject, but here goes. I don’t expect ‘imprinting’ is all that complicated for a duckling. It means “follow that big thing”. If a different big thing comes around and gets their attention, they will follow that other big thing just as well.
Is Hili at the edge of the riverbed shore gravel or just by a walkway near the house?
I like seeing pictures of Szaron; what a pretty cat. It is also fun to follow his dramas with Hili, and good to know their relationship is starting to warm up.
that picture with the tree is too adorable!!
Somehow, I do not see Hili actively chasing away a seagull. Does she do that sort of thing? She seems more the type to walk around smelling the flowers, then the gulls just sort of take off when she gets too close for their liking.
Perhaps a barrier extended across the pond so that ducklings from one group can’t cross into the territory of the other group. At least until they are a bit bigger.