Orphan Muscovy ducklings

[scottgun]

Last month, in the pictures thread, I posted some shots of the spring ducklings that had hatched on the pond next to my office. There were three clutches. One was from a mallard and the two others were from different Muscovy ducks.


Here is the duck I call Lady with her first clutch of the year. This was taken in mid April. Lady started off with about 9 or 10 ducklings. After 6-7 weeks, she still had round 8. Then, in the span of one weekend, she was down to 4. Then, 3. By last week, she only had 2 left. Predators are most likely to blame. There are a lot of ospreys around. We even have a couple of otters. I haven't seen any alligators but odds are they are out there too.

Anyway, I last spotted Lady with her 2 ducklings last Wednesday. On Friday, I came upon the ducklings but Lady was nowhere in sight. They were on the edge of the shore in the tall grass and they were calling for her loudly. I went back throughout the day. The ducklings were in the same spot but no Lady.

I haven't seen Lady since. My guess is that she went off to brood again and is sitting on a nest somewhere. When I left on Friday, I wasn't sure if I'd see those orphan ducklings again.

Good news; the orphan ducklings are still around. They are spending most of their time now swimming and sunbathing with the rest of the flock. I don't think they are out of the woods yet but I'm giving it 50/50 that they make it to full plume. Here they are with one of the pond drakes (taken this morning).

 

[Miss Lydia]

Last month, in the pictures thread, I posted some shots of the spring ducklings that had hatched on the pond next to my office. There were three clutches. One was from a mallard and the two others were from different Muscovy ducks.


Here is the duck I call Lady with her first clutch of the year. This was taken in mid April. Lady started off with about 9 or 10 ducklings. After 6-7 weeks, she still had round 8. Then, in the span of one weekend, she was down to 4. Then, 3. By last week, she only had 2 left. Predators are most likely to blame. There are a lot of ospreys around. We even have a couple of otters. I haven't seen any alligators but odds are they are out there too.

Anyway, I last spotted Lady with her 2 ducklings last Wednesday. On Friday, I came upon the ducklings but Lady was nowhere in sight. They were on the edge of the shore in the tall grass and they were calling for her loudly. I went back throughout the day. The ducklings were in the same spot but no Lady.

I haven't seen Lady since. My guess is that she went off to brood again and is sitting on a nest somewhere. When I left on Friday, I wasn't sure if I'd see those orphan ducklings again.

Good news; the orphan ducklings are still around. They are spending most of their time now swimming and sunbathing with the rest of the flock. I don't think they are out of the woods yet but I'm giving it 50/50 that they make it to full plume. Here they are with one of the pond drakes (taken this morning).

I'm thinking Lady got taken, babies look to young for her to go broody so soon after. Glad to hear ducklings have made it lets hope it continues. Thanks for sharing them with us. Muscovy's are my favorite duck.

and

 

[scottgun]

Orphan Update:

I've been keeping an eye on the 2 orphan ducklings, mentioned here previously. They were sticking together, like birds of a feather, until late last week. Unfortunately, one of them disappeared and has not been seen since last Tuesday.

Out of the two spring clutches that we had this year, here is the sole remaining duckling. It is now approximately 2 months old. The plumes are coming in. I can't get close enough to identify sex. For the time being, I'm assuming drake. I'm calling him Orpheus.