About rain and ducks
Late last week we had a beautiful rain. It fell steadily for about 30 hours which it hasn’t done for some time. In fact, it was the best rain we’d had for over seven months. In that 30 hour period we had more rain than the total of the previous four months.
Of course the birds loved the rain too. I was a little surprised to see that some of them still wanted to come to the bird bath for a drink. At least I didn’t have to refill it after the downpour.
The next day I was driving home from an outing. I rounded a corner near our place and had to brake to avoid two Pacific Black Ducks casually waddling over the road. I didn’t have the camera with me, so you will have to be content with one I’d taken on another occasion.
Pacific Black Duck
The Story of Quack
I really appreciate all the great comments that my readers have been leaving lately. It is wonderful how so many people are enjoying the bird life that comes across their paths in their daily lives.
Every now and then a reader leaves more than just a comment or two or a question. When they tell a great story about their encounter with birds I think it is only fair that everyone gets to read the story. Otherwise some great stories just get drowned in the flood of comments.
Sometimes readers also send me great stories via email through my contact form. These do not even appear in the comments section. Here is one such recent story.
I just came across your website and thought I would add our story. My 12 year old daughter just loves wildlife of any kind. she has a connection with animals of any sort but because we have several chickens and a pair of Appleyard Ducks she has a very strong bond with these.
Last year our pair of ducks had a clutch and one morning she found a duckling on the ground hardly moving. She brought it inside, kept it warm and hand-raised it herself and now it is a very handsome male.
A couple of months ago on our school oval a student found a duckling wandering by itself. It must have been about 1 – 2 days old. After a long search the parents were nowhere to be found. As they knew we had ducks we were asked if we would like to hand-raise it.
Knowing the best place would be with its mother we again searched the oval and nearby properties for Mum and the other ducklings but she couldn’t be found so we took “Quack” home.
He proved to be quite different in personality to raising our Appleyard ducks, probably because it was a wild duck. He was constantly chirping and jumping in his box. My daughter would sit and cuddle him in front of the heater, talk to him and be very attentive to all his needs, collecting slaters, worms and crickets to feed him as well as giving him his normal crumbles. She couldn’t even walk out of the room and Quack would be calling for her and looking to see where she had gone.
Over the weeks he grew quite large and it was time for him to stay outside. He would sit at the back door and call for my daughter and would follow her wherever she went. He would roam around our backyard during the day and we would put him in a cage at night.
As his wings were developing he would stand on the grass and flap them, surprising himself when he lifted a few centimetres off the ground.
Well yesterday (29th September) she took him out of his cage as usual, he had a quick bath and then walked on to the lawn, looked skyward and flew off! My daughter was devastated that she didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye, especially seeing we were soon to release him ourselves.
We were concerned that he flew into a neighbouring backyard which had a dog, so we went door knocking to see if we could find him – no luck. About a half hour later my husband heard the neighbour on the other side say there was a duck in her pool, so on investigation, yes it was Quack having a wonderful time in the pool.
Apparently he had been at their back door quacking to get someone’s attention. Well my daughter was reunited with him, with a big cuddle and we are now preparing him (and my daughter) to be released.
He is a male Pacific Black Duck.
My thanks to Sandy Davis for permission to quote this story in full.
Duck again
Over recent weeks we have had some old friends visit our garden. Well – actually, they are not so interested in our garden but rather something in our garden takes their fancy.
We have had two (a pair???) Pacific Black Ducks visiting our in-ground swimming pool. This happens almost every year about this time. On several occasions we’ve actually had ducklings come and visit too.
They are always nice to see – except for the terrible mess they leave behind!
Further reading:
Duck!
2 Comments »12th September, 2008; Category: Ducks Geese and Swans
Grey Teal
I had just driven out of the front gate this morning on my way to Adelaide when I had to brake suddenly. Just around the first corner I came across two ducks – Grey Teal to be exact.
They were casually strolling across the road – right in my path – hence the need to brake. As I approached they decided to beat a hasty retreat, so they took flight over the fence and into the nearby dam.
Sorry about the photo above – it’s not the best I’ve shown here on this blog. Searching through my photo collection I realise that I do not have many photos of this species – and those I have are not the greatest in quality. It’s only one of our most common ducks, so there is no excuse.
I need to get out more.
Black Swans in an unusual place
My wife and I join a friend on a morning walk every weekday. On our way home we pass a small dam about half a kilometre from our home. This dam was constructed on a vacant block of land by our local council several years ago. It stores storm water from the nearby streets. Some areas near here have a flood mitigation problem only discovered about five years ago during an extremely heavy downpour one afternoon. The council workers pump water from this dam to use in watering street trees and to dampen road works where necessary.
I’ve kept an eye on this small reservoir ever since it first contained water. Generally all I see is a few Pacific Black Ducks, Straw-necked Ibis and a collection a Masked Lapwings (which have been seen breeding there). Welcome Swallows are also regular visitors, and I am sure the local population of White-winged Choughs use the wet mud on the edge of the water to construction their mud nests. One one occasion I also saw several Black-tailed Native-hens.
A few mornings ago I was surprised to see several Black Swans gracing the water. This species is not all that common around here, though I have seen several recently at the nearby Rocky Gully Wetlands, about three kilometres to the east.
One day I will get around to making a list of all the species I’ve seen in this dam.
And then I will need to find a way of encouraging the swans to fly over our land so I can count them on my garden list.
Black Swan with cygnets, Canberra