They grow up so fast. This year we've had the good fortune of two mallards raising their broods in the pond behind our house. If you didn't know, mallards lay one egg per day to complete their clutch, but all the eggs hatch within 24hrs of one another. The chicks, while in the eggs, communicate with one another to synchronize their hatching! When we first noticed the babies, one brood had 13 and the other had 4 ducklings. I assume the smaller brood was in a neighboring pond, but decided to move after most of the ducklings were picked off by eagles. We've only seen one eagle attack so far, but the brood of 13 is down to 6. Over the winter my plan is to construct some nesting boxes for them. Hopefully that gets them to come back each year.
|
AuthorPat Barry is located in Juneau, AK. CategoriesArchives
October 2015
|