It’s a long story but I got all eight and rescued one yesterday that went to rehab. Mom and eight are in the pond. I need a name for the hen.
They came out of nowhere. Vashti’s brood is still being incubated. I do not know this mother.
Posting will be light today. . .
May 22, 2026 • 8:30 am
I don’t know if you know, but I saw SIX adult mallards swimming in the pond earlier this morning (on the video cam).
Yes, I was there at 5 a.m. and I was scared to death. And, sure enough, one drake attacked the new hen. But she fought back and now has intimidated all the other drakes. Mom is doing well and she and the babies are being left alone. Whew!
Thank goodness!
Good for her!
THE DUCKLINGS ARE BACK?!?!
… or maybe another family…?
Amazing!
😀
It is a different family. Vashti is renesting, babies due in about three weeks.
Vashti’s brood? Further explanation needed.
Oh, my goodness…. that will make a good post when you are able to come up for air. Let’s hope Vashti will continue to incubate for another week or so to give these guys a good chance.
Mom duck apparently knew this would be a safe place for her kids. I hope you can find a nest somewhere nearby where she probably incubated the eggs.
What a shock this must have been. It appears Mother Nature in her wisdom has rewarded you with ducklings galore. They are certainly in good hands.
Maybe the new mom could be called Raziel, seems fitting for her since she is a mystery.
The appearance of the brood suggests that it’s possible to safely traverse the city streets from one body of water to the next. Perhaps Vashti’s brood likewise made a similar safe journey and was rescued.
Podcast version: Vashti’s brood is back! Join us as we explore time-traveling ducklings and their travails living amongst settler-colonial drakes. Stay tuned. After the break, an interview with the brood’s spirit escort hen. Ain’t she a sexy one?! Angels really do have wings! Now a word from our sponsor, Melanogaster’s Chiro-Care and Folk Remedies.
No, these new ducks roosted on a ledge; which one I haven’t found out yet.
The word is out, “go to Botany Pond”.
The drakes were bothering her too much so she walked into the vegetation at the south end of the fence and disappeared. I could not find her on the other side; she may be hiding. If you see the brood on the pondcam at any point (link below) please email me.
Pondcam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPVB0qFRbVc
I set my timer to ping every 20 minutes to remind me to take a glance at the pond cam.
Good stuff ! 🦆🦆🦆
Exciting afternoon. Just watched the old perfessor tending to the pond and glad handing a few students who were hanging out there. In other news, Musk has his big rocket re-scheduled to launch in a 90-minute window starting at 6:30 pm edt tonight from Starbase in TX. Last night’s attempt scrubbed at t-40 sec.
Booster should return for vertical soft landing in Gulf; Spaceship payload should soft land vertical in Indian Ocean about an hour later. Updates and link to launch coverage at url
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/what-time-is-spacex-starship-v3-launch-starship-flight-12-timeline
Make Way for Ducklings — I enjoy the sweet attitude regarding ducks (and cats).
Excellent.
Our pets run our lives… a pretty nice state of affairs I think.
Now to take the puppy downstairs. Wish he’d learn to go to the bathroom outside on the street like MANY New Yorkers. Bet you don’t have that problem with your ducks.
🙂
Keep us appraised!
D.A.
NYC 🗽
Congratulations Jerry and Team Duck. The ducklings are fortunate they have you to feed, care and protect them.
Hi Jerry.
It seems to me that you have kind of Star Trek Prime Directive regarding the ducks—no interference in their culture. Which allows nature, red in tooth and claw, to take its course—like the agressive mallards preventing nesting etc.
I am not criticizing, I understand the logic. But I have a personal question. Do you ever get the urge to somehow shelter nesting ducks from the aggressive mallards? Protecting the ducklings from the natural way of things? I am asking because I often feel that I would be unable to resist that temptation, even though that, in theory, I think that nature should take its course. It would be a difficult position for me to be in.
This is not at all my logic. If it were, I would not remove ducklings in the past that were being attacked, I would not be feeding ducks or ducklings, and I would not try to drive away the aggressive drakes with a super soaker, all of which I do. When they are on the nests, the ducks and ducklings are fine, but once they hit the water, that’s when potential trouble begings. If you can tell me a way to shelter ducklings and their mothers from drakes while they’re in the pond, I’m all ears. Oh, and I am not by federal law allowed to touch the mallards.
I don’t think you understand the lengths I have gone to, and still go to, to protect babies who would otherwise die without my help.
Thank you for the reply, and, especially, for your work. I certainly know that I do not understand the effort required to maintain animal life in the wild (never having done it myself). I had no idea about the federal law, nor do I know much about the life cycle of the ducks, or the work of their caretakers. That’s why I asked the question, and, again, your work, and that of other involved in this project, doe no go unappreciated.
What you did was tell me what my motivations were and then asked me whether I ever got the urge to protect the mother and ducklings. Nor do you know what I do for them. I hope you can understand that t angers me when I get that kind of question, and yes, it is one born of ignorance.
Do not analyze my motivations again, please.
Anyone who has seen/read about your wading into the old unrefurbished, murky, and dangerous Botany Pond, to rush in, without waders, or any protective gear, and rescue just one hapless little ducky, knows what you’d do to help the ducks— whatever it takes.