Fish Food Mama has a 2nd Clutch!

I got a call last night, from one of the workers at the lake, that one of our "tough mother ducks" had eight babies! At first, I didn't know who the mama was and when I went this morning to check on them, I found eight little babies, including three black ones, and their mama. It was Fish Food Mama, the mom who not only raised the Fish Food Ducklings, but had just finished raising five ducklings this year! Here is a short video and slideshow I took:




I couldn't believe it was her, I've never heard of a duck raising a second clutch after successfully raising another clutch.  I was hoping it was Peaches, but, nope, it's Fish Food Mama.  Speaking of Peaches, I haven't seen her around, either.  Maybe she's trying to for a second clutch, too.  It's very late in the year for new ducklings and wonder how this is going to affect their survival.

Here are some more photos:

There were three black-ish ducklings

They had a little trouble with the grated surface of the boat launch where they were hanging out at that moment:

Unfortunately, there were gulls right where she was hanging out.  But, strangely, they almost seemed to be avoiding them.  They seemed more interested in raiding the trash and picnics than eating ducklings.  Hmmmmm.

In other news, the two ducklings and their mama were seen in their regular spot and don't seem to be in a hurry to leave.  They are four weeks old now and still undersized.  Their feather development has slowed down because of the heat.  I think this is the first time I've seen them in over a week:

The "yellow" duckling:

Mom and Zippy:

I went out looking for Neo and thought this was him, but, instead, I had a nice surprise.  This was the duckling that had a fish hook through its bill and was caught on a fish line wrapped around a stick.  I managed to pull the hook out and free the duckling, but wasn't sure if his bill healed.  Well, I guess it did (you can still see the hole in the bill) and here he is today:

But, I saw no sign of Neo.  I think he hangs out in the algae bloom with his dad.

I was thinking that, maybe, this duck was Cinnamon's Twin who disappeared a few months ago.  I thought maybe she was one of the ones taken to Project Wildlife recently.  But, no, this duck's head and neck looks very different than Cinnamon's Twin and I am now positive that she is gone forever.