Category: ducks

Readers’ wildlife photos

September 15, 2025 • 8:15 am

Well, folks, we’re down to about zero photos left in the tank, and if you don’t send your good ones, I’ll shoot these ducklings:

ONLY KIDDING! I couldn’t do that. But send in your photos.

Our last batch of photos comes from Ephraim Heller, one of his continuing series of photos from Brazil’s Pantanal Region. Ephraim’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them:

These photos are from my July 2025 trip to Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland area and the world’s largest flooded grasslands. Today I focus on some of the many waterbirds we saw: ducks, ibises, storks, and herons. I was particularly impressed with the variety and beauty of the herons.

In honor of Jerry, first up is the Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) – A tree-nesting duck with long legs that produces distinctive whistling calls, particularly during dawn and dusk flights. Unlike most ducks, both sexes share incubation duties and remain paired throughout the year.

[JAC: You can hear its calls on the Cornell bird site.]

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) – The snake-necked anhinga pursues fish underwater using its dagger-like bill to spear prey. Lacking waterproof plumage, anhingas dry by sunbathing with wings spread. We watched anhingas, when alarmed, drop into the water and undulate their necks to mimic snakes. This fellow was giving the same performance in a tree as we walked by:

Plumbeous Ibis (Theristicus caerulescens) – These use their long, curved bills to probe mud and shallow water for invertebrates, fish, and amphibians. I was quite taken with its iridescent plumage.

Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) – This skimmer uses its unique lower mandible, longer than the upper, to skim fish from water surfaces during flight. I wish I had seen that!

We saw two species of storks:

Jabiru Stork (Jabiru mycteria) – The largest flying bird in the Americas, adults can stand over four feet tall with wingspans exceeding eight feet.

We watched as one of these jabiru storks returned to his/her partner perched on their enormous nest. They immediately crossed their bills and engaged in a fascinating bill clattering ritual.

Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) – A wood stork uses tactile feeding, closing its bill automatically when prey contacts specialized nerve endings, enabling efficient feeding in murky water. Again, I loved the iridescent plumage.

And now for the marvelous herons! We saw seven species:

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) – A nocturnal heron that hunts fish, frogs, crustaceans, and fried chicken (see below). During breeding season, adults develop elegant plumes and intense red eyes, like this fellow. They are remarkably widespread and adaptable. In the old days, when we visited family near Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland, California, we would often see them feeding in the dumpster behind the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.

Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius) – Another nocturnal heron with a bill adapted for catching fish and crustaceans in murky water, using tactile feeding rather than visual hunting.

Capped Heron (Pilherodius pileatus) – One of the most beautiful herons we encountered. During breeding season, the cap becomes more pronounced and the bird develops longer decorative plumes, like this individual:

Cocoi Heron (Ardea cocoi) – The largest heron in South America, the cocoi can remain motionless for hours before striking at large fish. Here is an example of capture and takeoff:

Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) – The LBH transforms from white juvenile plumage to this gorgeous blue-gray adult color:

Rufescent Tiger Heron (Tigrisoma lineatum) – This species remains motionless for long periods, relying on camouflage to avoid detection by both prey and predators. I found one perched on a bush in good light, and when our little boat approached he flew to his nest just 10 yards away where his mate and chick were waiting!

Whistling Heron (Syrigma sibilatrix) – Just another amazing, stunning heron.

Duck report

September 7, 2025 • 10:23 am

I cannot give much of a duck report because we have no ducks. The pond seems bare and bereft of life, with a few scraggly plants eking out a dreary existence in what is basically a tub full of algae.  (A guy comes over once every two weeks to scoop out the algae, but that scares the ducks and they fly away.)

They also removed the duckcam over a month ago, promising that it would be back in a week. It wasn’t.  The ducks make the pond, and even though it’s somewhat scenic, though missing many plants, there also needs  to be animals there to keep it alive.  I am sad and don’t know what to do, though we have expressed some of these sentiments to Facilities.

Our one duck, who showed up for one day on Wednesday, was Hazel, who was here two weeks ago with her hen friend Dolores.  Both hens were in the pond and having a good time, eating, sleeping, and swimming together. Then the Algae Cleaner showed up got into the pond in his waders, and scared both ducks away. (This is his job, so it’s not his fault.)  They did not return. But if they keep putting people into the pond to remove algae with nets, it becomes a no-go place for ducks and dangerous for ducklings.

This past Wednesday Hazel showed up, but she was very skittish, would barely go into the water (it does contain algae-reducing chemicals, which aren’t supposed to harm ducks), and would eat only a few duck pellets by sitting on the shore and leaning over to pick them up from the adjacent water. You’ll see that in the video below.

Here’s Hazel, and below is proof that it was she who had returned. She’s a lovely duck:

Was it really Hazel? Here’s the bill of the duck above, photographed on September 3:

And here is Hazel’s bill photographed on August 24.  It’s a perfect match. Bill patterns are the fingerprints of female ducks.

Hazel eating from the bank.  When a group of tourists came by, they all converged on the area with their cameras, photographing ONE DUCK.  They don’t do that when there’s no wildlife. As I said, THE DUCKS MAKE THE POND. And although its formal name is “Botany Pond”, everyone knows it as “the duck pond.”

I just schlepped down to the pond with my bag of duck food, hoping against hope that there would be someone to feed. And then I schlepped back to work, with not a pellet dispensed. I am depressed and wonder if the pond will ever be full of life like it was before the renovation.  There are supposed to be fish and turtles, too, but they haven’t put them in, though someone’s put one goldfish in the pond. I hope it’s not hungry.

I’m too low to write any more posts today.  We now have a habitat unsuited to our beloved ducks.

Hazel and Dolores at the pond

August 26, 2025 • 7:49 am

The two mallard hens are still here at Botany Pond, and the new one has been named Dolores, with the last name del Estanque, making her name “Dolores of the Pond”, after the movie star Dolores del Rio.

They just had a huge breakfast, and one of them has been definitively identified as Hazel, the single hen who was here the other day. She brought a friend.

Here is Hazel’s bill (left side) from Saturday:

=

And here is one of the pair yesterday. It’s clearly Hazel:

They came together, and are clearly friends. They swim together, walk together, eat together, and hang out together. I’m very glad, as each has a friend and ducks are social birds who like company. Here are the two of them after a late lunch yesterday:

. . . and the new duck, Dolores del Estanque:

Let’s hope they hang around for a while. Everybody loves the ducks at the pond save one miscreant, but I won’t go into that.

And one water lily has bloomed, producing a beautiful flower:

The two hen friends in Botany Pond: who are they?

August 25, 2025 • 2:22 pm

Following an all-day absence that worried me, our two mallard hens finally returned this afternoon. After giving them a big meal, I watched them for a while and photographed them, concentrating on the left side of the bill, as that’s the side I have photographs of.  Here, for instance, are earlier photos of Esther and Hazel, recent denizens of the pond.

Esther (note the tiny black triangle at the rear of the upper bill):

. . . and Hazel (the newcomer, with an easily identifiable bill pattern).  Tomorrow I’ll download the photos and see if either of our two hen friends are these ducks.

Hazel, our new Botany Pond hen

August 24, 2025 • 11:00 am

As I wrote two days ago when posting two pictures, a new hen showed up in Botany Pond on Friday. It was very exciting, as we hadn’t seen any ducks in the pond since Esther and her babies left within a few days of each other over a month ago.  The new hen was skittish at first, and afraid when food was tossed to her, but at least she learned that what I tossed was edible.

And of course I whistled as I fed her.

I decided that if the hen showed up yesterday, I’d name her. And, sure enough, she was there. Not only that, but she came swimming right at me for food.  While she was still a bit skittish in the morning, eventually she swam slowly over to the edge of the pond by the bench on which I sat, and I fed her a little bit at a time. She was no longer afraid of food falling into the water, and she hung around after breakfast, apparently liking our company.

At lunch (she gets two meals per day) she again came swimming to me on my whistle, and was totally friendly: the tamest wild mallard I’ve known, and apparently able to recogize me. Besides duck pellets, she got mealworms, and loved them.  Here she is (the poo behind her is not duck poo!)

One thing I realized is that the presence of even a single duck really enlivens the pond, and people came by to watch and photograph her. I’ve named her Hazel, by the way, taking the cue from her color.

Here she is resting on the bank on Day 1. As you see, she’s well fed. And she’s just molted, too, as her primary flight feathers are gorgeous and new. Two pair of people stopped and asked me lots of questions about the ducks. But the DuckCam appears to be gone. I will make inquiries.

After lunch yesterday, she continued to hang around the edge of the pond near me. Perhaps she’s lonely. I hope she brings a few friends with her. You’re luckless when you’re duckless.

Hazel is a very fastidious duck and spends a lot of time preening her new feathers.

Here’s a photo of the left side of her bill to help identify her if she returns next year. It’s a pretty identifiable pattern.

Finally, here’s a short video of Hazel doing some postprandial preening and swimming yesterday. Look at those gorgeous primary feathers (the big ones on the wing)! She’s also drinking to wash down the dry duck pellets.

She isn’t here this morning, and I fervently hope she comes back. Duckless is luckless.

UPDATE: Reader Nicole sent me this photo from the Duck Inn in Collegeville. PA.  It sits by a pond full of mallards, and this machine is nearby. I WANT ONE!

There’s a duck in Botany Pond!

August 22, 2025 • 11:30 am

Unbeknownst to me, one member of Team Duck has been religiously walking to the pond every day, hoping to see a mallard.  Since Esther and her babies left, though, we haven’t seen one. This morning our Team Duck member called me excitedly and reported that there was a hen mallard on the pond! I immediately grabbed my bag of duck food (still at the ready) and ran downstairs to the pond.

Sure enough, a lone hen was swimming in the middle of the pond. (They’ve also taken the plants out of the cages and distributed them throughout the pond, so it looks much nicer.) The bird, being wild, was skittish, and when I tossed it food (and whistled), it was a bit scared. But soon enough it discovered that what I was throwing was good stuff, and she began eating. I whistled all along to get her used to an association between my whistle and food, which is how I always call our broods. It’s pretty clear that this duck is not one of “ours”, i.e. one of Esther’s brood or Esther herself (her beak is also different from that of Esther).

She won’t come close to us—yet, but it’s amazing how much difference a single duck makes in the appearance and attraction of Botany Pond. Three people showed up, and all of them looked at our visitor (one took a photo). I’m hoping that this is the beginning of many ducks who will stop by the pond for a drink and a nosh during the Fall migration.

Here she is. I’ll check later this afternoon to see if she’s still there, and, if so, I’ll give her another snack.

Readers’ wildlife photos

August 22, 2025 • 8:15 am

Today I’m assembling photos from readers who sent in a small number.  Their captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.  I’m assuming all ducks are mallards (Anas platyrhynchos).

DUCKS from Peter Fisher:

I came across this family of ducks in a rather lovely setting in Rydal Water in the English Lake District. Mum is clearly keeping watch. There were six ducklings, (one must have escaped the frame).

From Christopher Moss:

Some more for your stash. I received the 2x teleconverter today, so these were taken with the full frame equivalent of a 1200mm lens! I need to practice some more with it, as it is prone to camera shake, but there is promise there.

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) and a damselfly (probably an Eastern Red Damsel, Amphiagrion saucium)

 

From Richard Kleinknecht:

THE HUNGRY AMERICAN BULLFROG (Lithobates catesbeianus)

                               

 The California Department of Fish and Wildlife writes (click here)

“Adult American bullfrogs have voracious appetites and will eat anything they can fit into their mouths, including invertebrates, birds, bats, rodents, frogs, newts, lizards, snakes, and turtles.  Bullfrog tadpoles mainly eat algae, aquatic plant material, and invertebrates, but they will also eat the tadpoles of other frog species.  As a result of these feeding behaviors, all life stages of bullfrogs prey upon and are able to out-compete native frogs and other aquatic species.  Additionally, bullfrogs are a known carrier of chytrid fungus, which causes the potentially fatal skin disease in frogs called chytridiomycosis.  Chytridomycosis is believed to be a leading cause of the decline of native amphibian populations all over the world and responsible for the extinction of over 100 species since the 1970s.”.

Apparently, the American bullfrog will, or will try to, eat anything that won’t eat it first.  My extended family member, Eleanor, knew that bullfrogs had exterminated her singing chorus frogs, (genus Pseudacris, multiple species) and was not terribly surprised when she came upon this bullfrog attempting to swallow a pre-deceased adult bird, one that ultimately proved to be too large for consumption – but the frog came very close to swallowing something nearly as large as itself!

From Sharon Diehl:

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) pair atop Transform Tower #199, Wally Toevs Pond, Walden Wildlife Habitat, Boulder, Colorado. I have photographed this mated pair for years at Walden Wildlife Habitat, where they hang out atop the transform towers that overlook Wally Toevs Pond. They aren’t always successful breeders, but they keep at it, together year after year.

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) hunting at my backyard bird feeders–where, alas, it caught a bird–at least it was a Starling. I know the raptors have to eat, too:

Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens), on the Hornbeam tree I believe, waiting for the flicker to leave the suet feeder–my backyard, Boulder, Colorado.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in a tree, overlooking a lake in East Boulder Community Park, Boulder Colorado.

. . . and more DUCKS from reader A. C. Harper:

Two ducks making the most of pondweed on water at Fairhaven near the Norfolk Broads. Pictures taken on holiday at South Walsham July 2025.