Just a brief update: all the ducks are doing well: Honey still has her four and Dorothy her ten, and although they’re still wary of one another, they are not aggressive. The babies are growing like gangbusters and show every sign of vigor and health.
So, two pictures. First, Honey’s brood:
And then Dorothy with hers, learning from Mom how to preen themselves.
Adorable. Wonderful photos. So glad everything has calmed down.
Good news to hear that the ducklings are thriving. Honey’s brood have grown quick. Keep up the good work Jerry. All the best.
Lovely photos – I could only see nine ducklings in the photo of Dorothy and her brood? Maybe just my eyesight though…
One might have been out of the picture.. No worries–there are ten!
Anyone in the Chicago area who can put together a remote-reading set of scales which could weigh the brood as they waddle across it?
Actually, the zoology or ecology department quite possibly have such tools “on the shelf”.
Great!
Always nice to get a mallard interest story along with the front page news. 🙂
It looks like the young ones are out of danger at this point. Very glad (and relieved) to see this.
I don’t understand why I have taken such an interest in ducks when there is so much going on in the world (e.g. Israel/Palestine, Pipelines, etc) But I eagerly await Coyne’s notice so that I know that Honey, Dorothy and all the ducklings are safe and happy. It seems more than just a diversion to me. Thanks to Coyne, I’ve been in-duck-ed
Always good to get a close-up view of Nature doing it’s thing. Will you be offering your evolutionary take on what happened and why? There are a lot of questions:
Why has Dorothy been more successful than Honey? Was it purely because her ducklings were born first? Was this by chance or a deliberate action on her part? Is she a more experienced duck and knew that by having her brood first it would improve their life chances? How do you account for her aggression towards Honey’s ducklings? Was she trying to improve the survival chances of her own brood? Did she see Honey’s brood as a threat? Or is she just an aggressive duck?
And for ongoing study….. does the fact that Honey can concentrate her parenting resources on 4 ducks rather that 9 or 10 mean that their genetic chances are much improved compared to the diluted attentions that Dorothy’s brood receives?
Be still my heart. They’re adorable!