Duckling Distraction

On Thursday while I was heading home, I happened to notice this female duck brooding her young. She looked like a mallard, although generally the females have at least some orange  on the outer edge of their bills. The all dark bill made me question myself. I wondered if this duck might belong to a different species.

In any case, the dark bill gave her a uniquely, beautiful look. I found her beauty and mystery mesmerizing, plus the ducklings crowding under her breast where also pretty hard to resist.

A few minutes earlier, one of the ducklings took a moment to peer out at the dangers of the world before turning tail and snuggling back under its mother.

My focus was broken by the splash of a duck diving below the surface.

There were three birds in the water between us and they were all diving below the surface.

Their splashes were quite distracting. I had seen the same three ducks a few minutes earlier. 

They looked like miniature mallards. Their diving behavior bewildered me because Mallards are classified as dabbling ducks, as opposed to a number of other species which are referred to as diving ducks. Later while doing research, I would learn there are a few references to Mallards diving. If you click on the previous link and look under the heading, Feeding Behavior, you will see one such reference.

Having never seen Mallards behave this way, I attempted to photograph their unusual behavior.

They dived with essentially the same speed as Western Grebes, quickly.

 This left me with numerous photos of water splashing up in the air.

 Occasionally, I actually caught a bit of a tail before they disappeared below the surface.

They would stay under water for 3 or 4 seconds before resurfacing. I never saw any food in their bills, so I am guessing they were swallowing something relatively small while still submerged.

When one swam in front of a full grown female Mallard, I realized this was an excellent opportunity for a comparison. The diving duck looked to be roughly the size of a Green-winged Teal, relative to the adult female.

When one of the young climbed totally out of the water I noticed the white sprouts of feathers on the left 'hip', in an area which will ultimately be covered by wing feathers, when the duck matures.

Relatively small wings might actually make it easier for young ducks to propel themselves underwater. However, since I could not see what they were doing below the surface I have no data to support this possibility. Still, I wonder if juvenile ducklings might be more inclined to dive due to a temporary optimal sizing of their wings during their development. 

Even though the young ducks were close to the size of Green-winged Teals, their bills where far more similar to Mallards than the thin little black beaks of Teals.

I found it hard to believe these young ducks were anything other than Mallards.

 I visually reviewed Sibley's drawings of all the dabbling and diving ducks.

I have found no other likely candidate species.

After a few minutes, the last of the three 'diving ducks' splashed its way out of sight.

Back on shore, one of the very young ducklings decided to leave the crowded basement and climb upstairs for a better view.

Later, I would learn there were seven other siblings huddled under the mother duck.

You can hardly blame the little duckling for wanting some fresh air and a more personal relationship with its mother.

Ultimately, the mother could only take so much movement and squirming. She headed for the water, giving the adventurous duckling a short ride to the shore.

Seeing the Mallard duckling on its mother's back was a first for me. It reminded me of a previous post regarding Pied-billed Grebes. It was titled, The Mother Ship.

Seeing the blue speculum on the mother duck removed any doubts that she was a Mallard. Click on the highlighted link to see examples of various identifying duck speculums.

 The young ducklings followed the mother to the water.

Looking at the spots on the young ducklings made me wonder if the whitish 'hip' feathers on the juvenile diving ducklings might be the remnant of the last yellow spot which we can see on these much younger birds.

The mysteries continued. The mother and her ducklings wandered close to a full-sized female Mallard. The large female appeared to nip at the smaller, black-billed mother duck. This seemed to prompt the mother to fly away.

The ducklings went on about their business of searching for food.

I can only assume the mother will be back. But I find myself bewildered by the size difference between the two 'mature' female mallards. There is far more going on in nature than I understand. Could it be that the smaller female is the result of a Mallard breeding with some smaller species of duck? or Could the size and bill color differences just be natural variation inside the Mallard species? 

Watching one of the young ducklings diving under the water sure seems like a fitting conclusion for this bewildering set of experiences.

Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature bewilders in the city!

Larry

Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. My hope is that we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors and local businesses to respect native flora and to support native wildlife at every opportunity. I have learned that our most logical approach to native trees and plants (in order of priority) should be to:

1) Learn and leave established native flora undisturbed.
2) Remove invasive species and then wait to see if native plants begin to grow without assistance. (If natives plants start on their own, then these plants or trees are likely the most appropriate flora for the habitat.)
3) Scatter seeds from nearby native plants in a similar habitat.
4) If you feel you must add a new plant then select a native plant while considering how the plant fits with the specific habitat and understanding the plant's logical place in the normal succession of native plants.

My intention in my weekly post is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms.

Is this plant native to the Pacific Northwest?

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Scroll down for the answer

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Twinberry:

This is a plant native to our area. The beautiful dark berries are currently visible on local plants at many different locations.

FYI, There is new information posted in last week's 'Going Native' discussion. Feel free to scroll down and weigh in.

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The Email Challenge:

Over the years I have had many readers tell me that Google is no longer sending them email announcements regarding my posts. Even more frustrating when they go to 're-sign-up', hoping that will enable them to once again start receiving the announcements, they get a message which says 'Sorry, you are already signed up.' Google has not responded to my requests for help with this issue. 

My functional work around is to setup my own email list and each week I manually send out a new post announcement. If you are experiencing the issue and would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Thank you for your patience!

My email address is LDHubbell@comcast.net

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The Prodigal Duckling

This might be as close as I get to a classic photo of a female Wood Duck and her new ducklings. However, it is not what we usually see when watching for Wood Ducks and monitoring their nest sites. 

By the way, there are many interesting tidbits about Wood Ducks in these earlier posts:

Ducks in Trees

The Housing Crisis

Sitting Ducks

It Takes A Village

A Beauty Bias

Note: The second up-close photo of a female Wood Duck's eye in the Beauty Bias post was taken near the same area where these ducklings and their mother were photographed. Their eye markings sure look remarkably similar. I wonder if they might be the same bird?

Monitoring Wood Duck boxes in the spring is a dual purpose endeavor. We look for any sign that the females ducks are utilizing the nest boxes and we also watch to make sure non-native creatures, like European Starlings, have not usurped the nest sites. Earlier this week, I was watching Box #9 along the shore of Nest Egg Island in Duck Bay. 

Wood Ducks are shy and often feed in the shadows along the shore. Females, with their subtle shades of coloring, can be especially challenging to spot. Initially, I did not see the ducklings or their mother. However, I did notice a dark reflection moving swiftly to the north. I glanced up just in time to watch a crow abandon flight. The crow fell in a fluttering corkscrew toward the ducklings. 

No doubt the crow had young to feed and the little ducklings looked like easy targets. The female Wood Duck immediately propelled herself into harm's way. The crow had second thoughts and settled behind the clump of grass on the right. The sudden attempt to hide fooled no one. 

The four tiny yellow reflections on the left are ducklings. Their mother is slightly to their right, almost invisible against the shore. No doubt she is watching the crow with one eye and her ducklings with the other. 

When the crow came over the grass and made a second attempt, the young ducklings race toward their mother, while she lowers her head and counterattacks.

The crow takes to the air, while the mother duck prepares her next defensive maneuver.

To my surprise, more ducklings appear. The duckling reinforcements on the far left side of the photo, are swimming towards their mother and siblings.

As the two halves of her family reunite, I suspect the mother felt a bit of relief.

However, in an instant the crow was back, strutting along the shore and eyeing the growing number of opportunities. The mother duck charged again.

The crow retired to the far side of the grass clump to reconsider its options.

The female lead her young through the lily pads and away from the crow. One little duckling began to fall behind.

As the mother moves out onto the open water only eight of her nine ducklings are close by. The average size of a Wood Duck brood can vary quite a bit. Birdweb suggests an average clutch of 9 to 14 eggs, while All About Birds says, six to sixteen eggs. Last week, we saw a mother who had only 5 ducklings, all of which were similar in size to these young birds.

If you happen to spot Wood Duck ducklings around Union Bay I would love to know the location and the number of ducklings seen. (ldhubbell@comcast.net) From what I have read, the females often lead their young to a new location soon after hatching. So young ducklings seen close to a particular Wood Duck box are especially important sightings.

When the mother slows down the young ducklings bunch up close behind her. They must have realized the danger and felt the need to be close. Somehow, the mother must be aware that one duckling is lagging behind. I wonder if Wood Ducks can count? 

Her patience pays off. Perhaps, this carefree little bird stopped for an extra morsel of food. For Wood Duck ducklings or humans, sometimes it is the small seemly inconsequential choices we make which ultimately decide our fate.

This time the little duckling lucks out and makes it back to Mom. Although, if the mother duck gives her young names she would probably be wise to think of this one as, 'Short-timer.' In contrast, I am amazed how the other eight ducklings were able to crowd so closely that only three are partially visible in this photo.

When the mother moves to welcome the prodigal duckling, the tightly-packed flotilla of apprehensive siblings is revealed.

With all nine once again under her protection, the mother waves her wings above their heads.

This looks almost exactly like the behavior of a female duck immediately after mating. I wonder if we will ever prove, or disprove, whether this wing-flapping behavior is an expression of pride or simply a means to straighten her flight feathers and prepare her wings for future use.

The mother turns her back on the crow and the distant shore, and proceeds on toward the shelter of Foster Island. 

It is interesting to note that the eyestripe on Wood Duck ducklings essentially stops at the eye. 

This is in direct contrast to these far more common Mallard ducklings. Later, when we start seeing Gadwall ducklings, you may notice that their eye stripes are similar to Mallards. I guess this just proves that Wood Duck ducklings are special.

In a moment, the ducklings are nearly perfectly aligned in single file. I wonder why this arrangement is safer for traveling ducklings compared to just crowding up as close as possible to their mother. By the way did you count the ducklings? Once again there appears to be only eight. Where is Short-timer?

Have a great day on Union Bay...where young ducklings hatch in the city!

Larry

Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. My hope is that we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors and local businesses to respect native flora and to support native wildlife at every opportunity. I have learned that our most logical approach to native trees and plants (in order of priority) should be to:

1) Learn and leave established native flora undisturbed.
2) Remove invasive species and then wait to see if native plants begin to grow without assistance. (If natives plants start on their own, then these plants or trees are likely the most appropriate flora for the habitat.)
3) Scatter seeds from nearby native plants in a similar habitat.
4) If you feel you must add a new plant then select a native plant while considering how the plant fits with the specific habitat and understanding the plant's logical place in the normal succession of native plants.

My intention in my weekly post is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms.

What species of plant is this? Is it native to Union Bay?

Scroll down for the answer.

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Empress Tree: 

While this tree with purple blossoms is not native to the PNW it is a wonderful sight to see. It can be found north of the Don Graham Visitor's Center in the Arboretum, just south of Duck Bay. I also found this interesting link to a UWBG post about the tree. I particularly like the idea of planting a tree when a child is born with the intent of using the wood when they both mature. To me it symbolizes the type of forethought and change which we need to encourage in our society.

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The Email Challenge:

Over the years I have had many readers tell me that Google is no longer sending them email announcements regarding my posts. Even more frustrating when they go to 're-sign-up', hoping that will enable them to once again start receiving the announcements, they get a message which says 'Sorry, you are already signed up.' Google has not responded to my requests for help with this issue. 

My functional work around is to setup my own email list and each week I manually send out a new post announcement. If you are experiencing the issue and would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Thank you for your patience!

My email address is LDHubbell@comcast.net

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