Sunday Duck Report

Friday was the one-month anniversary of Esther’s brood hatching, and yesterday was the “monthiversary” of the ducklings venturing into the water from their nest under the tree, a entry that I witnessed.  Now the ducklings are large, resembling small, half-fuzzed versions of the adults (see below), and they’re getting their feathers. They are entering the “punk duckling” phase in which they are no longer unbearably cute, but I still love them.  In about three weeks they’ll start trying to fly.

Here are some photos and videos taken the last week of May and one or two showing them more recently. They’re all healthy and rambunctious, and I take some credit for keeping them alive, as there is no real food for them in the pond.  They get a diet of Mazuri duck chow (now they’re able to eat the adult-sized pellets) combined with mealworms as a special treat.

Just as a reminder, here’s the brood at one day old within 10 minutes after they entered the water (there were seven, but we mysteriously lost one on the first day):

And here is a video from May 30: the brood is now a flotilla of miniature ducks. This is how they come to me when I call them for meals:

A “baby” losing its down and getting feathers, They start growing on the wing and the tail.

After meals, the babies like to disport themselves in the “cold tubs”: leftover plant pots:

A duckling with a few real feathers, also sporting a longish duck bill:

Much of the activity that charms duck-watchers is how they dive, preen, and flap their little winglets after a meal, comme ça:

More partly-feathered little ones. Note the pointy feathers on the tail:

Here’s some of that wing-flapping and dunking that occurs after meals.  Onlookers love it when they flap their little wings.  In a few short weeks, though, those little stubs will be big, able to carry the ducks high into the sky:

A half-fuzzer scratching himself. This may well be a male because of the greenish-brown color of the distal portion of the bill (females are said to be orange). The color-identification method isn’t fully reliable given that we never see the babies after they’ve developed their adult plumage that enables us to tell them apart.

A favorite activity after meals is jumping onto the east edge of the pond for preening, sunbathing, and snoozing. Esther, ever watchful, stands up. (She does nap sometimes.)

The postprandial sunning-and-preening session. Note the swollen throats; they store food in their esophagus to digest later:

And often, especially when it’s a bit cool, they’ll form a pile o’ ducks:

Here’s the brood splashing and diving after a meal. Esther is the role model:

And the Queen herself, watching over her offspring: