More little quackers

Posted on September 4, 2021 by dinajohnston

I’m a sucker for baby ducks, even annoying muscovy ducks. I came home from running errands in late July and saw a family in the neighborhood pond so I ran home and got my camera. They were hanging around the sidewalk when I got back so I plopped down and watched them running around for a few minutes.

They eventually wandered over to the bushes so I said goodbye and left.

This one is an older juvenile. He was following me around. He has what is called “angel wings” from poor nutrition. Some of his wings grew outwards. Even too many carbs is bad for the ducks. He probably grew up with one of the neighbors feeding him only bread. He should be eating bugs and getting protein. One other duck had it on one side. They can’t fly with their wings like this and it can’t be fixed at their age. It will be interesting to see how long he’s at our pond, although he could move on to other ponds in the area as well.

Yellow rubber duckies in the neighborhood

Posted on August 12, 2017 by dinajohnston

I spotted this Mom with her babies in the grass along the pond in my neighborhood.

I sat down on the sidewalk and watched them for a while. They were not shy. People in the neighborhood feed the ducks here so they were looking for a handout.

One of the other muscovy ducks kept an eye on me. Maybe the father? What a distinguished face he has.

Another family on the other side of the pond. This mom has a white face with only 3 babies.

Hoody in my neighbor “hood”

Posted on December 28, 2015 by dinajohnston

The tiny pond in my neighborhood has a rare occupant every winter. I finally saw him recently and stopped by to take his picture. The hooded merganser was the only duck in the pond that wasn’t a muscovy duck. He usually has a mate with him but this morning he was alone. I hope she’s just late getting in from up north. I hope he doesn’t spend the winter alone in this little pond.

Hooded mergansers are very skittish. He stayed across the little pond at first. I sat down on the grass and all of the muscovy ducks came swimming over to me. They sat next to me and I guess the hoody thought I wasn’t a threat because he did swim a little closer. He never got all the way to the edge or up on the bank but he did get much closer than usual. He also spent some time preening in front of me which a good sign but maybe he’s lonely. I’m going to keep looking for that lady duck.

The faces that get no respect, the muscovies came right up to me and I’m assuming they were looking for a handout. After a few minutes they just plopped right down next to me. I didn’t feel like getting up so I started taking pictures of their faces. They are almost like snowflakes, no two faces are just alike.