Mom with Ducklings Today's Picture of the Day 5/16/2016

Today's picture is of this mom with four of her five ducklings. It was kinda a dreary morning, so there's not a lot of contrast. I think a couple of the ducklings got attacked by the gulls as they seem a little wounded. The mom also keeps pecking and knocking over the fifth duckling.

Last Friday, she had 13 babies.

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.

Good-bye Caramel, RIP

I have confirmed that the dead duck I saw earlier this week is, indeed, Caramel, one of the best duck mamas on the lake.  Above is her most recent living photo.  I didn't want to think it was Caramel because the body was found in an area where she hasn't been in for a long time.  Also, I know she was on a nest and just figured that she went back to her nest.  Her death appears to be natural, perhaps she was egg-bound, but could have been over-mated, though there was no signs of her being so. Those three males that hurt the buff duck do live in that area and they are rough on some of the girls.   No signs of fishing equipment injury, either.  She leaves behind two natural daughters, one natural son, and one adopted son (from her sister, Butterscotch).  No sign as to what happened to her boyfriend in the photo.

She was one of the three "Fish Food Ducklings" from about two years ago.  Here is a photo of her with her two sisters taken in June 2010:

Here is a photo of her and her brood last year.  The small duckling is one of her sister's:

Here is a photo of her and her brood a little older:

I checked and doubled-check the photos of the dead duck and recent photos of her and all markings line up perfectly, including a small orange mark near her nostril and her cheek patches.  I believe all her offspring is still alive.  I hate to lose any female ducks there because there are so many males, but to lose a good mama as Caramel is even worse.  She raised four ducklings last year, which is pretty good.  I am sure she would have raised even more if she had lived.

Her two sisters, so far, are doing great.