Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Our “ducklings” have grown up now, and they’re as big as their mother Esther. Although their wings aren’t yet of full size, they can still fly a bit, flapping across the pond about a foot above the water. Yesterday one even made a U-turn and flew back. It won’t be long till they’re accomplished flyers and, sadly, I’ll probably be in the Arctic when that happens. In fact, they may be gone for good when I return in a few weeks, though Esther has yet to begin her molt, which takes about a month and renders her flightless as she sheds and regrows her wing feathers. (All ducks molt once a year, and hens do it after the babies are grown.)
I have a ton of photos and videos, including incipient flying, and will post them in time. I’ll try to do one tomorrow and one when I return. In the meantime, yesterday afternoon, when it was hot, the brood was splashing, diving, flying, and dunking, and here’s one “duckling” who looks quite happy after a good dunk in the water. (Click photo to enlarge it.)
This is a good one for beginners, as I think it’s pretty easy. There is a duck in this photo, and it happens to be mother Esther. Can you spot it? Don’t tell others in the comments where it is lest you spoil their two seconds of fun, but you can say whether you found it. There will be no reveal because it’s an easy spot.
There are in fact several ducks in this photo, but i know that only because I was there. If you think you see them, you don’t.
It’s Sunday: time for a duck report. The babies can’t be called “ducklings” any longer as they’re nearly the size of Esther!
These video and photos were taken on two days: June 16, and 17, so I’m a bit behind schedule. But I have photos and videos taken since then, and eventually all will be posted. Yesterday’s zoomies, for instance, show that the ducklings flap their growing wings while scuttling across the pond, and even were able to take off a bit, like a Wright Brothers plane. Soon they’ll be airborne, and I’ll be a proud parent.
First, though, here’s Esther, a fantastic duck mom. Below she’s flapping her wings and cleaning herself in the pond,
And a video of her ablutions. You can hear her quack: Esther’s voice! And remember, only female ducks (“hens”) can make the classic duck quack. Males (“drakes”) make a low sound that is not very quack-like:
Esther playing flamingo by standing on one leg:
Two more of Esther quacking and preening on The Rock, a flat rock in the middle of the pond where the ducks like to stand. First, she quacks:
Then she shakes herself dry (below). The blue feathers with white edges are called the duck’s speculum. Both males and females have the ornamentation, and I don’t think we understand why it evolved. My own view is that it helps ducks recognize other members of their species, and that’s what the Wingtrip site says, too:
So why have a speculum? Obviously being flashy in coloration is important to ducks, otherwise it wouldn’t be such a prominent, genus-wide trait. Both sexes have sepeculums, which could lead us to believe that this color wasn’t generated by sexual selection. And this would be a decent assumption, as it’s broadly accepted that speculums are there for signaling between birds in the air, aiding in important flocking behavior.
Birders and ornithologists know we don’t usually see Anas ducks on their own. Just think about it yourself, how often do you see a lone Mallard? Infrequently, as they are usually paired up, raising ducklings, or in flocks. These gregarious birds need to keep track of each other for a variety of reasons. Safety in numbers (and in homogeneity of flocks) during movements being paramount, the speculum is likely the ticket (along with vocalizations of course). In air it’s out there, flashing reflections all over the place for all to see. On the ground it’s tucked away, allowing mothers to stay hidden on nests and studly males to not be too conspicuous.
That sounds about right to me.
When you hang around ducks you realize that they really are beautiful, with the males all decked out by sexual selection with green heads, yellow bills, and white neck rings, while the females, who must be cryptic on the nest and when shepherding their ducklings, are mottled brown, blending perfectly with the ground and foliage when they’re on land. And there are, of course, those lovely speculums (specula?). I still have a few speculum feathers from Honey, for mothers in the pond molt after their babies fly, losing all their feathers and growing new ones. (They lose them gradually as they grow new ones, so they don’t go bald!) Feathers are crucial, but also subject to a lot of wear and tear in the air and water, and so a new set is regrown each year.
The ducklings always play around after lunch and dinner, but are more quiescent at breakfast. After playing (see below), they will preen in the water, and continue the preening as they repair to the pond ledge to sun themselves and dry out (below):
Here they are playing (if it is “playing”!). I often wonder whether they enjoy this, or are driven by impulse to behave in ways that will be adaptive in the wild. Of course, if there is some sort of duck “fun,” then that would prompt them to do stuff like this, stuff that could help them take off from the water or escape predators. So let’s just assume they are enjoying this!
After eating, zooming, and preening, they often form a pile o’ ducklings, though this is less common when it’s hot (remember, they are wearing down jackets). Below is one pile o’ ducklings. Notice that they like to stay close to their brothers and sisters. Esther, of course, is keeping watch over them, standing on the right side of the frame.
Pile o’ ducklings:
Yes, they look chubby, but they really aren’t. They are just healthy and well fed, and their crops are full of duck pellets that they’ll digest later.
Zoomies! This is the best part of duck tending. They get all excited for reasons unknown, and this happens almost invariably after the afternoon meal. Then they have drag races across the pond, or dunk themselves like donuts in coffee, or swim underwater. It all makes for a great show, and we have to tell people nearby to watch the ducks, as this happens spontaneously and is over quickly:
More diving, dunking, and zoomies. Be sure to watch at the end (starting about 1:30( when Esther kicks off the action by flying. I wonder if the ducklings zoom to imitate her. Notice how some of them flap their wings as they zoom:
Getting out of the pond for preening and napping:
Here’s a duckling about to take a nap. Notice that they have two coverings for their eyes. His/her eyes are open in the first picture, but then covered by the nictitating membranein the second. Shortly this duckling will close its eyes using the main eyelid and head to dreamland.
We of Team Duck always have all our ducks in a row. Note Esther, who always stands at the end to oversee the brood while they nap (she naps, too, but not as often):
And just to remind you: here’s the brood photographed on May 7, shortly after they first entered the water. In only seven weeks they got to the size above. (Note that there were seven. One disappeared the first evening, but we’ve had six ever since.)
The link to this “uchicago” Instagram post is here, and this lovely video highlights Esther and her brood, as they are the only brood the renovated pond has harbored. I’m sure this video was taken by the University photographer, who did a great job. I’m also delighted that the video (and thus the University) recognizes the value of the ducks to the pond and to the people who come to the pond to chill out.
Oy, how the ducklings have grown! Remember, today has been only 40 days since they hatched on May 6. In all respects save their inability to fly, they are slightly small adults, though they still hang together as the Brood of Six. Here are some photos and videos taken over the last two weeks.
The pictures and videos below are presented chronologically, and were taken on four days: June 1, 5, 7, and 11. You can see the change in the ducklings over a period of only ten days: they’ve lost most of their fuzz and are mostly feathered, and their wings are getting larger.
Mother Esther, June 1:
More “babies”, if they can be called that. Esther stands on a plant pot and watches her offspring:
On June 1 the ducklings were growing feathers, most notably on their wings.
A video of ducklings leaving the water on June 1 for a postprandial grooming session and then a nap. They are able to leave the water and jump on the pond edge very easily now.
More preening on the same day:
And, after preening, they often form a clump o’ ducklings, keeping warm and together. Esther, as you see, is always nearby. They’re also nibbling at the grass:
A single duckling giving itself a thorough cleaning.
By June 6, the ducklings had developed more extensive feathering, especially on their breasts. They look to me like little dinosaurs, which of course they are:
And they look quite plump after feeding, often with their craws hanging over the edge of the pond. We call these “Dali ducks”. But they are not fat.
The babies dunking themselves on June 6:
Father Mordecai, who hasn’t been around for a few days:
After dining, swimming, diving, and preening, the ducklings plop themselves down for a nap. I love the plopping:
On June 7 we had a bout of postprandial zooming:
Esther the Queen:
Esther always does thorough ablutions, for as mom, she has to be in good condition. (Soon she’ll molt and gradually lose her feathers, replacing them with shiny new ones. This process is gradual so she is not of course bald!)
Meanwhile, Mordecai, when he was there, would drive other ducks out of the pond. Here he subtly but insistently forces Haman the Evil Duck out of the pond:
By June 11 the ducklings had gotten almost all of their feathers, but their wing feathers are small and they can’t yet fly. They’re also a bit smaller than Esther, but not by very much. Here’s one sunning on a rock:
Duckling ablutions:
Dabbling. They seem to get some food from the pond, and I’ve seen them slurping down algae. Here they all seem to have homed in one one area:
Homing as Esther watches:
A big-time case of the zoomies:
A duckling. It’s now hard to tell them from mother, and at a distance you have to concentrate on color (Esther is lighter) rather than on size. There’s just a bit of fuzz near the tail, but otherwise they are fully feathered. I predict they’ll be flying in two weeks.
As a reminder, here are two of them the day they hit the water: May 7:
Here I am hand-feeding a stray hen, who we call “Hoover” because she comes right up to us when we’re sitting and cleans up all the duck food spilled on the ground at feeding time. I felt sorry for her and gave her a handful of food, which she quickly grabbed, one pellet at a time. I don’t really want to feed her, but when a duck looks straight at you with their beautiful faces and liquid eyes, it’s hard to resist. I am not feeding these stray ducks much at all, and they are often gone (eating elsewhere, I hope). Photo by Elsie Holzwarth:
You wanted zoomies? Well, you got ’em! Here’s the brood on June 11 doing a bit of postprandial zooming. It’s not absolutely predictable, though the probability of this behavior is highest after mealtime in the afternoon. It usually begins with one duck going underwater and swimming, and soon the rest follow, seeming to race each other across the pond. I keep my camera close by, ready to take video if I see imminent signs of the zoomies.
While this looks like “play”, it’s probably practice for flying and flapping their wings: eventually they’ll take off if they do this. As for whether the ducks are really having fun—getting pleasure out of this behavior, well—all I can respond is to utter the sentence that Jake tells Brett at the end of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: “Isn’t it pretty to think so.”
The babies are nearly five weeks old in this video. It’s hard to imagine when they were helpless little fluffballs!
We’ll have a longer post with videos and duck pictures on Sunday.
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:
