RIP Peaches and 2 Pekin Ducks

Peaches

Last week, just after Mother's Day on a Tuesday night, Peaches was run over and killed in the main parking lot at Lake Murray. Apparently, she had been harassed all day by the male ducks and may have been run over trying to get away. That, combined with people feeding her from their cars, probably contributed to her death. It  happened near the end of closing on the 12th. Peaches was about five years old and often nested near the boat dock.

Here's a photo of her in the parking lot last March with her two body guards.

I also have a Youtube video of her coming up to my car on that day:


In addition, 2 healthy Pekin drakes were killed. One was killed by coyotes. He was one of the three that used to hang out on the east end of the parking lot. For several days, ducks that also hung out in that area hung around where his body was seen. I don't even think that these ducks really knew the dead duck. The two that were with him moved away from the area:

The second Pekin used to hang out across the lake. He's one of the ones who was at war with Mr. Squeaky and was beating him up very badly. Mr. Squeaky looked near death when I first saw him after I noticed the other duck had disappeared, but has improved over the last few days. He enjoys hanging out with the girl with the banana bill and the angel wing. I saw him today and he looked so much better and seems to be very happy.

Mr. Squeaky and friends

Mr. Squeaky

The other duck's friend is extremely depressed, though Arthritis duck, who is also one of Mr. Squeaky's friend, comes over and sits near him now and then.

Sissy is having a problem. Even though Runner Duck and her other friend do a really good job protecting her, she is being harassed by the same two males that harassed Peaches all the time. Today, she seems to want to hide from them.

Here are the males attacking her. She doesn't seem to be protesting too much, though. I think she likes those male ducks, but is too overwhelmed by them.

Gosling news!

Almost forgot to add the obligatory photo!  I only have this one right now. You can hardly see her. She and the other five nearly grown ones are doing great and getting more grass. The big ones are practicing flying now.

However, Squeaker's husband is being a pain. He's biting people in the buttocks and laying down and sleeping in the road.  He might not be around long.

RIP Mama duck and ducklings

This morning, I heard the crows mobbing something near the canal where both Butterscotch and the mother pictured in the photo above were staying.  The mother in the photo was staying in a canal that was above where the lake road was.  Butterscotch was staying in a reed bed below the canal, a third duck was sitting on a nest, and I think Fish Food Mama was seen not too far from there recently.  When I got near that area, I found blood and female duck feathers that looked like they came from the mother in the photo above.

At first, I thought the duck was caught near where Butterscotch was, but when I remembered where the crows were mobbing from, I think it was the mom in the photo above that was caught and carried down to the lake road.  This was the mother, I think, who had the ducklings last year and brought them to the canal after the gulls got most of them and raised them there.  She has stayed in the canal ever since, but not in the area where I usually walk.

I suspect that the ducklings were also caught and eaten as I heard no sign of any ducklings in distress.  I'm sure she died defending them.   I doubt she still had the six, more likely she had two or three left.  They would be just over two weeks old. Or, it might have been a totally different duck with no ducklings whom I don't know.  But, some of the feather patterns look like they came from the mother duck pictured above.

I don't think I saw any ducklings today, except, perhaps, Butterscotch's ducklings who are nearly old enough to be on their own.  I didn't see any sign of Butterscotch, but her males weren't too far away from the ducklings, so she might be there.  I will let everyone know if I see this mama duck and her ducklings again.

I saw Squeak and Pollux with another killdeer whom upset Squeak a lot.

Pollux seemed very excited and did a big nest scrape:

Squeak came over to approve it.  The third killdeer ran off and disappeared.

"That's nice, dear" Squeak says

I thought I saw Pepper chasing after the girl ducks.  I hadn't seen Pepper in a while and was happy to see him.  But, it was not Pepper, but Cinnamon's boyfriend, the one I call "Mr. Rapist", but not aloud.  I think Cinnamon's "boy band" has broken up.  I haven't seen Big Daddy, lately.

Unfortunately, I think Cinnamon's Twin's Twin is deceased.  I saw her boyfriend and "Spot" the Welsh Harlequin without her.  They seemed very sad.  And, another Pekin is gone, too, so there's now 12 there.  I am still hoping to see Big Daddy again as I think he went off on his own somewhere and will show up again.   Oreo is still alive and well.

Louie just loves Jill.  I wonder if they're mating now.

I think the male on the left might be one of Snowie's sons from last year.  The other wasn't too far away.  She seems to not mind this other male at all and the Dad tolerates him well, too.  Mom is very picky and just doesn't accept every duck to be near her.  She's been with the male on the right for years.