Botany Pond has ducks!

March 16, 2025 • 9:45 am

The Jewish holiday of Purim was on the 13th and 14th of March, and on the 14th a breeding pair of mallards appeared at Botany Pond, and they’re still there. The main heroes of the Purim legend were Queen Esther and Mordecai, the advisor to the King (both Jewish), both of whom saved the Jews of Persia from total annihilation. The names of our ducks were thus obvious: the hen is Esther and the drake is Mordecai.

Aren’t they beautiful? (Click photos to enlarge them.)

Esther swimming:

The pair in the open pond (see below):

In the channel; ducks on the rocks, with Esther preening herself:

Mordecai on the rocks. It looks as if he got pecked on the breast, perhaps in a fight for Esther:

More Esther. Notice that her bill is not heavily decorated with black, as was the case with our favorite ducks in previous years:

Ducks are at their cutest when they tilt their heads, which, given the placement of their eyes, they must do to look upwards (hawks, other potential predators, etc.):

Swimming and drinking in the channel:

This is the new remodeled pond, very different from the previous version. Sections of the pond have been blocked off with netting to protect the plants, but we are trying to get the netting reduced as right now the ducks don’t have full access to the pond, and ducklings can’t fly over nets.  I am worried that, if they fix the nets as they’ve promised, the men running around in the water will permanently drive away Esther and Mordecai.  We want them to nest. Another anxious duck season begins. . . .

Oh, and we’ve asked for the duckcam to be turned back on. Stay tuned.

And a bonus gray squirrel, named Shmeul, in a nearby trash can. He is just finishing noshing on a piece of pizza someone discarded.

31 thoughts on “Botany Pond has ducks!”

  4. Beautiful! Spring is still springing, and reminds us there is life and meaning outside of the day to day bad news.

  8. Delighted to see the pond posts back! As these are the first fowl to arrive, I don’t believe they can be charged with settler colonialism, but I’m not sure how I feel about Esther and Mordecai mating. It somehow seems unseemly!

  9. Congratulations on the reduckification of your pond, and best wishes to the happy couple. May their ducklings never need rescuing!

  12. Glad some ducks have returned, and I like their names! Please don’t let the lack of wildlife photos kill your blog. You have plenty other important, interesting (and humorous) things to say.

  13. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to making the new pond attractive to those new ducks.

  15. Great news! And lovely photos. And at least Mordecai and Esther the ducks actually exist.

  18. This is the first thing I read today — a perfect reset. I’m happy to see Esther taking to the strategically placed flat rocks. May she and Mordecai be fruitful.

  21. Spontaneous generation. Pasteur may have been right about where micro-organisms come from but anatids are a special case. Set out water and ducks will miraculously appear. Set out a lawn in North America and Canada Geese will materialize from the quantum foam.

    1. A thought “quantum foam” was what the geese left behind, in copious amounts.

  25. It’s great to see the famous Botany Pond has ducks again. What a handsome pair. Enjoy your new duck friends, Jerry.

  26. Congratulations to the happy (and cute) couple on their new home.

    Now get busy starting a family!

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