We almost had another brood in Botany Pond: a hen several blocks away showed up with a brood of about nine ducklings, and though I was in Iceland, the stalwart members of Team Duck tried to shoo them into Botany Pond where they’d be safe (there were people to feed them). Sadly, they got all messed up trying to get through a hedge, and Team Duck, along with Facilities and the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, all on the scene, couldn’t get the mother and brood together to herd. Seven of the ducklings were rescued and taken to rehab, but mom and two babies stayed in the bush, and disappeared overnight.
This is part of the sadness attendant on duck-tending. But at least most of that brood will be okay (they’ll supposedly get surrogate moms), and we did fledge Esther’s six ducklings, which flew the coop after I was overseas. In memory of Esther and her brood, then, here are what I think are the three best photos from the last duck season. We needed more broods!
First, Esther and her seven (remember, one disappeared the first night) only a few minutes after they hit the water. You may recall that she was our first hen to incubate her eggs on the grounds—the usual behavior of mallards. Facilities put a plastic fence around her nest to keep interlopers away.
Esther was an excellent mother.
A marching duckling from that brood, a bit older:
And my favorite photo of the season, “Smiling splashing duckling” (yes, this is one of the babies all grown up):
Yes, I agree, the playful duck is the best.
🥚🐣🐥🦆[hen emoji missing]
Love duck #3!
How many ducks do you think that Botany Pond can support? As with the Apis mellifera story we read about earlier today, you can have too much of a good thing.
We have never maxed it out. We have had three broods at once, all of different ages, and it went fine. What is problematic is if a hen is homicidal, but we have had that only once and we lost only one duckling.
Yet another brood of healthy ducks raised and fledged by our duck wrangler and team. Thanks for the wonderful photos and as always for the updates.
Is there any guesstimate of the number of little lives that started out under the care of PCC(E)?
I am sure it is well over 100 now, not counting orphans and strays that we have taken to rehab. But I have not kept count.
These posts remind me of Ogden Nash’s poem “The Duck”. Forgive me if this is a repeat.
Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or a pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms ups.
Too bad Esther didn’t stay. But still, a duck family launched! 🦆🦆🦆
Oh, that happy splashy duckling!
Lovely photos. A testament to your dedication and devotion! Congratulations on another successful year of duck parenting.