SureIsSweetTho
Chirping
- Mar 5, 2020
- 18
- 44
- 59
The photo is a little crummy through the patio screen, but that's a mom duck sitting on a nest and the duck on the bottom is her 6 week old orphan that she abandoned right in that nest, so I've been taking care of him. I left the empty nest alone, and about 4 weeks later the mom came back and laid more eggs and is now brooding there again full time. I take the orphan outside every day and walk around the yard with him and say hi to the neighbor ducks, so the mom duck sees him every day and knows he's there, but they've never gotten too close. The baby is getting a little more bold about walking around the yard, which is nice, and today I heard the mom's little threatening squeaky noise and I looked to see the baby had gotten reeeeaaaally close and was sitting right near her. She's still pretty skeptical, and a week or so ago he got too close while pecking around in the grass and she got mad and chased him 10 feet or so. She's quite a bit bigger and obviously doesn't mind getting feisty if she's pressed, so I'm not concerned for her safety per se, and she went right back to the nest. Anyway today he got close again, and she made her little warning noise again (an oddly sweet noise for such a warning), but the baby just plopped down to sit in the shade. The mom kept standing for a moment like she was thinking about getting mad again, but then she sat back down, and next thing I know I'd been working outside for 45 minutes and looked back to check, and they were still sitting right there next to each other, no feathers flying, no grumpy noises, and the baby was fast asleep. I think his eye is a bit open in the photo, but you can tell by his head position he was just napping. So I dunno, I think I'm calling it progress. Sure wish I could read their minds to know what they think, especially the mom. While she was standing up I counted 20 eggs! It's doing to be duckling pandemonium in a few weeks.
btw, ignore my "he/she" stuff, I don't actually know if the baby is a boy or girl, but saying "it" all the time feels rude.
On the slightly sadder side, a few days ago the baby started showing the beginning of angel wing, which you can kind of see poking out on the right side.
btw, ignore my "he/she" stuff, I don't actually know if the baby is a boy or girl, but saying "it" all the time feels rude.
On the slightly sadder side, a few days ago the baby started showing the beginning of angel wing, which you can kind of see poking out on the right side.
