First ducklings of spring 2015!

First Lake Murray ducklings award for 2015 goes to Snowie, again! She had them about a week or so earlier than last year. There were 13 and she's managed to hold on to all 13 for at least two or three days.

The whole brood together, all 13 of them.

RIP Howard, AKA Picked On, AKA Outcast:

Howard got a broken wing last week and was taken in to Project Wildlife. He didn't survive. This picture was taken on the day he went in to the hospital. He was actually starting to do better and was eating again on this day.

Squeaker and the male of the pair that adopted her look for Howard where he was last seen. Howard helped Squeaker learn how to be a goose and was the one who got her integrated into the group.

Miss Squeaky, the Pekin may need to be rescued, soon. She's getting a bald head. As soon as she starts showing raw skin or bleeding, a rescue attempt will be made. Right now, she's showing a lot of wing itching, probably from being mounted.

The first ducklings of the season award goes to Snowie!

Snowie showed up late yesterday afternoon at Lake Murraay with 7 ducklings of a variety of colors and shapes.  All but one were domestic colors.  One was a mallard color.  I *think* we might have a couple crested ones.  You can probably guess who the dads were.

There were two that were light blue and yellow, probably came from Baby Blue:

Here is the lighter yellow-blue ducklings with a black and yellow duckling.  I'm suspecting the father of the dark one to be Dougie.  Bigboi tends to produce all black ducklings, but he may still be the father.  I don't think it's a runner baby because he doesn't stand up at all like a runner and that trait tends to carry through even when they breed to non-runner ducks.

This photo is available as a print on Deviant Art.  You can buy it here:

Unfortunately, Snowie had to fight off all the males in the area.  This put her ducklings in danger, especially from the 50 or so gulls nearby getting fed.  All the ducklings were fine while i was there.

Here is a Youtube video I made of Snowie's ducklings running around:

She was heading towards the gulls, that's why I told her not to go there.  Unfortunately, I don't think these guys are going to last.  The weather's been cold and Snowie is not the best mother.  I wanted to make sure I filmed and photographed all of them before they disappear.  Also, one kid was able to pick one of them up, so it's possible that they may get duck-napped.