Category: Botany Pond

Botany Pond ducks (with videos)

March 25, 2025 • 8:15 am

Mordecai and Esther are still here, and looking fat, healthy and happy. I thought I’d show a few photos today in lieu of Readers’ Wildlife, and add a couple of videos. (I tried to get a photo of Esther quackling loudly, which she’s wont to do, but she didn’t perform yesterday, when I took all these photos and videos.)

First a photo of the ducks. Here’s Mordecai. Isn’t he handsome?

Here he is getting out of the pond after a bracing swim (It was chilly yesterday). Esther swims nearby (the camera was a bit wonky), about to follow him:

The lovely Queen Esther:

Here’s the pair on their favorite spot: the warm cement ledge on the east side of the Pond, where they rest and dry off in the afternoons. Esther has a quick drink, and they sun themselves and preen.

Mordecai looking around. I love his iridescent head.

The difference in appearance between males (drakes) and females (hens) is surely due to sexual selection. The females are well camouflaged in the grass, while males sacrifice some of that camouflage to attract females. We have no idea why females prefer yellow beaks and metallic green heads; the reason why females in different species prefer different traits is largely a mystery. (Of course there are some sex differences in traits, like antlers in elk and body size used for fighting in elephant seals, that are well understood; males win females–and offspring–by winning contests. Darwin called this the “law of battle.”)

Here they are both out of the water. Towards the end of this short video Mordecai engages in some stretching, which we call “duck yoga”. He also scratches his chin, though ducks don’t have chins.

Esther and Mordecai together on the edge. They’re both oiling their feathers. Mallards have an oil gland at the base of their tail, and they repeatedly dip their beaks in it and then spread the oil on their feathers to waterproof them. Hence the expression, “Like water off a duck’s back.” If you’ve ever seen a duck in the rain, you’ll see that the water just beads up and runs off their oily bodies.

Reader’s wildlife photos, PCC(E) duck edition

March 21, 2025 • 8:15 am

Whether you like it or not, you’re going to look at photos of my ducks today: Esther and Mordecai. (This is the equivalent of a proud parent showing off pictures of their kid.)  They have now been here well over a week, and have settled in nicely, having learned to navigate most of the pond (except for the parts blocked by netting.)  They have also mated at least once, though mallards mate several to many times before the female finally nests.

Esther hasn’t yet started building a nest. Once she does—and I hope it’s on a windowsill instead of the ground—she will lay all her eggs, one per day, and then, when they’re all laid, she will sit tight on them, brooding them for just about 28 days, when they will all hatch within one day. And then. . . ducklings on the pond!

Although mallards are ground-nesters, somehow the Botany Pond ducks have learned to nest on the windowsills of the adjacent buildings, which affords them protection from both predators and the elements. But Esther seems to be a young and rather wild duck, and I hope she doesn’t put her nest on the ground, where predators and errant humans could disturb it.

The good news is that both ducks have learned to come to my whistle for a nosh, and when I make my characteristic call, they both come swimming towards me. This is something that’s happened only in the last two days. Ducks learn fast!  Here are some photos, all taken yesterday.

BREAKING NEWS: When I went to see the pair this morning, I couldn’t find Esther, though Mordecai was on the east side of the pond. I had a feeling, and so I looked up. Sure enough, there was Esther sitting on a ledge in a window of the second floor of Erman, the building next to the pond. She is clearly scoping out nesting spots (“nest shopping”, we call it), and so the next step in the breeding process has occurred. She will pick out a good ledge (that’s a nice one, above soft ground), build a nest, and then lay eggs. I’m glad she knows enough to nest on a ledge and not on the ground. These ducks are not dumb!  To see two films of Honey and her ducks jumping off the ledge, be sure to go here and watch the movies

Below: the pair swimming together. They are NEVER far apart, and if they get separated by too great a distance, Esther will quack loudly at Mordecai and he will come swimming to her. (He’s a good husband.)  Remember, only female mallards can make the characteristic quack that we associate with mallards.

After her swim, Esther dried off on the warm cement facing the sun:

As I’ve said, hens are particularly cute when they tilt their heads, which, given the placement of their eyes, they have to do to see above them. They often do this when a hawk or other possible predator flies overhead:

Swimming. If you haven’t seen our mallards before, the blue stripe on the wings is called the speculum, and we don’t really know why it’s there.

Mordecai swimming. His neck is stretched out because he hears something. Note his curly tail feathers:

Mordecai swimming, neck in normal position. I like the psychedelic patterns in the water:

Esther chilling (or rather, warming) on the cement edge, eastern part of pond:

Mordecai standing just a few feet away from her. He doesn’t want to neglect his reproductive investment! Note that both ducks are in good condition, healthy and plump:

As Esther jumps up onto the edge from the water, she uses her wings to assist, and you can clearly see her speculum. Each blue feather (these are called “secondary” feathers, with the “primaries” being the main flight feathers) has a white stripe on it. I still have several speculum feathers from Honey, as mallards molt and regrow all their feathers after they have babies. During this period of a few weeks, they’re unable to fly.

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.

Botany Pond is open!

October 14, 2024 • 9:34 am

After two years of closure, and two seasons without ducks, they opened Botany Pond this morning, taking down the fence that had kept us from our beloved body of water.  The pond has been re-lined, made shallower, landscaped, and with an area fenced off for ducks. There’s a new filtration system, too. It looks good, though I’ve had two duckless years.

Here are some photos I just took:

First, main pond, with temporary fencing in the water to allow the water plants to start growing undisturbed. You can see that the two large bald cypresses have been removed, and that the pond is quite shallow.

There are large pebbles (or small rocks) in the shallow part, and then a geometrical design of levels. The pond gets deeper (but still below my chest) in the center.  Note, at upper right, that the cement bench is still there, along with some tables and chairs that have been put on the cement patio.  The building to the left is Erman Hall, on whose windowsills the mallards nest.

The channel, which contains the filtration system (no new water is piped in as in days of yore; rather, the water is filtered and recirculated). The water bill for the old pond was exorbitant, and there were constant leaks, which have been fixed. The end of the channel is designed as a “reflecting pool,” though it’s hard to see what’s reflected. The boulders in the pond are designed to entrap debris which is removed by the filtration system:

A panorama of the whole pond, with the main pond to the north (left) and channel to the south. Click the photo for a full view:

There are two benches at the north end of the pond to facilitate duck- and turtle-watching:

The old cement bench, good for duckwatching, is now supplemented with some tables and chairs:

A panorama of the main pond:

There is lovely landscaping; I’m told that they chose plants that, by and large, are native to the area. The water plants, which include the requisite water lilies, have just been installed (there are tall grasses, too). You can see the pots with the young plants in the foreground.

And, thoughtfully, they have reserved the south end of the pond as a refuge for ducks and ducklings. It’s fenced off from the main area of access by a sturdy metal fence (right) anchored in concrete.  The rocks to the left are designed to allow egress for young and old mallards from the pond.  I hope people stay out of this area. One thing that worries me is that now that the pond is shallow, miscreants will be tempted to jump in and swim.

Where the ducklings will climb out. I hope the stones are low enough to allow an easy exit (the fence will be gone by next spring):

Microfauna (snails, microbes, worms, etc.) have been added to the pond as seeds to allow it to develop, and to provide food for turtles and ducks.  I think they’ll put the turtles back next spring.

Let’s hope that all goes well and we get some nesting ducks in the spring!

Finally, here’s a memoriam to Honey, who is surely in Duck Heaven by now. I had six years with this wonderful female, and she reared over thirty ducklings. Goodnight, sweet duck, wherever you are:

With her adolescent brood:

And the year she kidnapped Dorothy’s brood, winding up with 17 ducklings. All of them fledged! Here they are resting on the central ring, which is no longer there.

Botany Pond opening on hold once again

March 1, 2024 • 11:45 am

We missed a full year of Botany Pond last year, and that meant a dearth of ducks, although we managed to bring up a brood of ten trapped on the roof of a dormitory two blocks north. That was a considerable accomplishment given the difficulty of the task, which involved schlepping water and food over to the dorm three times a week for eight weeks. We also had a somewhat depressing experience with Amy the Library Duck, who couldn’t find her way to the lake several blocks west, and so we had to purloin her offspring and put them into rehab. That was also the case for another lost brood a few weeks earlier.

We had hoped that Botany Pond would be filled with water by June of this year, but even that doesn’t seem to be in the offing, and we may not even get to see the migrating ducks stop by here on their way south.  Below is the announcement from the Chicago Maroon about various delays in reopening the Pond, which is now surrounded by an ugly metal and nylon-mesh fence.

Although the article below starts this way:

According to a University spokesperson, the refilling of Botany Pond along with its bridge repairs are set to be completed this spring, with planting and landscaping occurring over the summer. The re-introduction of the pond’s wildlife will be a gradual process that will begin upon the pond’s refilling, with a focus on re-building the pond’s ecosystem from the ground up in order to ensure its self-sufficiency. According to a University spokesperson, the refilling of Botany Pond along with its bridge repairs are set to be completed this spring, with planting and landscaping occurring over the summer. The re-introduction of the pond’s wildlife will be a gradual process that will begin upon the pond’s refilling, with a focus on re-building the pond’s ecosystem from the ground up in order to ensure its self-sufficiency. It is unclear when Botany Pond will be open to the public again.

Well, they are not going to complete the bridge repairs this spring, nor will the pond be refilled, nor will the bridge be completed. Forget about the planting and landscaping.  Everything is on hold because the University is hurting for money.

Pessimist that I am, I don’t think the pond will be refilled any earlier than the Spring of 2025, which means that we’ll have lost two full wildlife seasons.   This is sad not only because the turtles, fish, and ducks won’t be here to enjoy, but the entire pond, a jewel of the University, will be fenced off and unavailable to the community. People from all around, whether or not they had anything to do with the U of C, would stop by and get respite from their quotidian woes by communing with the pond, its plants and trees and of course its avian wildlife. You can read about the delays below, but I won’t reproduce them as it just makes me sad. Click to read the rest:

Instead of bemoaning the problem, I’ll put up a few photos to bring back memories of brighter days.

Feeding the ducks with the Lab School students, 2017:

Honey and her brood of 17 from 2020. Half of the brood was kidnapped form Dorothy, but Dorothy went on to re-nest and produced her own brood of seven:

Honey as a soccer ball:

Me feeding Honey, 2021:

Honey’s very young babies:

. . . and her teenage brood. Ever watchful, she was the Queen of Duck Mothers:

Roof ducks, last year, with mother Maria. We brought every one up to fledging!

The pond in November, 2022. Work has been very slow, and back then it apparently wasn’t due to lack of money:

Turtles in 2018 (red-eared sliders). They are off somewhere being taken care of, but I wonder if we’ll ever see them again:

The pond in 2018:

Unknown drake and his mate:

Frisky the wood duck sitting on his cypress knob (sadly, they cut down the trees):

Frisky nuzzling his girlfriend Ruth, who flew off on her own:

Is it any wonder I’m depressed?

h/t Charles

The state of Botany Pond

June 10, 2023 • 12:30 pm

All of us are missing our wildlife this year, for Botany Pond is being renovated. We were told that the renovations would begin after convocation (that was a week ago), but we’ve had a week of good weather since then and nothing appears to have been done. The schedule calls for landscaping, fixing the cement walls, putting in a new pond bottom, adding upgraded drains and filters—all done by fall, with the Pond being refilled by October.  Right now it’s just a shadow of its former self.

The gate to the pond was open this morning, so we strolled in and I took a few pictures (click them to enlarge):

From the north end. You can see all the duck circles as well as the barriers, which I didn’t know existed since the mud was so deep that I rarely ran into them. Note that both bald cypress trees were cut down and only the stumps are visible (their roots were going through the cement). The plants are growing wild, as is the Virginia creeper on Erman Hall to the left.

A view from the south looking north.  I never knew those walls were there in the pond, though occasionally I’d bump my leg on something when I was saving ducklings. The bridge over the pond that leads to the channel is to the left. Notice the faux wolf at lower left, put there to scare off the ducks (there are two, but they didn’t work).

A panorama of the pond from the south:

And a faux wolf. They are smaller than they look from afar, and are also made out of plastic (for some reason I thought they’d be furry, but that would be dumb):

We are all suffering from duck and turtle withdrawal.

Botany pond renovation: update

January 1, 2023 • 11:15 am

In the last three weeks, a group of energetic workmen sucked all the mud and gunk out of Botany Pond, revealing its bare bones. It was surprising to me because, as you see, there are cement barriers several feet high throughout the pond and channel (perhaps to keep the mud from shifting?). I never ran into these, which means that the mud rose well above the barriers.

Now that the pond is dry and bare, it’s very sad. They’ll redesign the area over the summer, do the landscaping, fix the cracks in the cement, and then, come next October, fill it with water and add the necessary microfauna.  I hope they will reserve a place for the ducklings to rest and not be bothered by people, but Facilities doesn’t seem too interested in that, which worries me.

We will of course miss duck season this coming spring and summer, and I don’t now if I’ll see Honey again—ever.  With luck we will get a few migrants stopping over for a rest and a drink.

Here’s the view from my office, which is a bit murky as it’s taken through glass. The two bald cedars have been felled, and the cement “duck rings” (beloved as a resting place for little ones) have been moved. (I hope they’ll be replaced.)

You can see the barriers within the pond, and it’s a good thing they were well below the mud level when I was chasing after ducklings this year (31 caught and rehabbed), as I would have found them serious obstacles to duckling capture, as well as banging myself up even more.

View from ground level, taken by holding the camera above the fence. The absence of the cedars is visible, as well as the walls within the pond. I find it all very depressing, especially on a gray New Year’s day, though I know they plan to restore the pond to its past glories. But what will they do for the ducks? Are the turtles still okay at the rehabbers? I have many questions and, of course, anxieties.  I really would like to see Honey again, but she’s an old hen now: she would be eight at the minimum in 2024. Maybe she’ll stop by next fall.