While showing a charming young couple the Brood6 hen sitting at the edge of the pond last evening, they got quick glimpses of duckling heads and tails poking out beneath her. When we turned around, however, we got a bigger, more delightful surprise. Babs, the Brood5 hen and her two bonded drakes had brought their entire troupe of a dozen 3-day-old ducklings to within a couple of feet of us. Not everyone gets a chance to see young ducklings up close like this, but if you move slowly, some of the hens trust humans enough to let their chicks greet millpond visitors.

I’ve posted flowers from this same grouping of hydrangea shrubs in past years (see 2010 and 2012). They are impossible to miss if you walk along the millpond trail. They are just north of Stillwater Grill between the trail and parking lot.

The large white bracts around the outside are a visual cue for pollinators to visit the much smaller creamy white flowers in the centers of the flower clusters. The bushes are 6′ tall and at least that large in diameter. The leaves turn a deep red in autumn so these are a terrific cultivated plant for any northern tier garden.

Ducks can tell if their eggs are viable and remove ones that are no longer worth the nesting space. Last summer, a Main Street merchant saw her roll an egg into the middle of an alley and break it open. Presumably, this is done far from the nest so predators won’t follow the scent to the nest to destroy the eggs. Unlike most of SweetPea’s nests, I have some hope for this one. It’s close enough to the pond, partially shielded from park visitors, and close enough to her four admiring drakes that she just might decide to nest for the full 28 days. She’s doing fine so far, but she usually loses interest within 10-14 days and that’s ahead of us. Stay tuned.

Finally, after almost three weeks, the nest to the right (above) had its hen identify herself and begin to sit. This is one of Confidia’s ducklings hatched in 2012 so this is her first time to brood. Estimated date for the eggs to hatch is June 17th, but the nest is clearly visible and might be vandalized. Success is not guaranteed.

The hen (below left) is a north end devotee. She and her two bonded partners are always there. She’s probably a hybrid Mallard and Buff Orpington and has unusual color markings including a prominent dark eyestripe and a lady-like necklace of white. One of her beaus is a good sized Buff-Mallard hybrid (far right) while the other is a feisty Mallard drake who has lost many of his chest feathers in mating season scuffles with other drakes.

Dazzle sure does. Park visitors ask me: “Where’s the black duck?” and “Where’s the green duck?” I know they are referring to the same one. If they met him in bright sun, he shimmers in iridescent green, but on cloudy days, he’s an inky black but still stands out from the crowd. He was dumped at the pond in January, 2012, and spent last spring mating with every hen he could sweep off her webbed feet at the millpond. Then he flew away. I suspect he was charming hens in other ponds. He returned in autumn.

This year, he’s a little different. He hooks up with hens but not for long. He’s still a cad at heart. For the past few days (at least), he’s been following this attractive hen around. They lounge on the millpond lawn together and go on frequent swimming dates. Will we have some tiny iridescent black ducklings added to the pond this year? Even though he gave it his all last year, none arrived.

Just try and count a hoard of tiny balls of fluff after the sun sets. The grainy picture above of Brood7 confirms this Mallard hen has a troupe of 14, the largest brood so far in this year’s competition. This just might be the Marlboro Mallard. Their faces look similar. The only time I counted her eggs she only had 12 but it might be her. I would have suspected she’d be at the other end of the pond. It’s closer to her nest. When the light is better, I might be able to identify her better.

I’ve included a detail photo from the one at right so you can see some ducklings up close. They sure are cute. I had read online ducklings can’t eat duck chow for the first couple of weeks. The pieces are too big for them. Joyce and Robert from Wildernest have been saving up the “dust” from their duck chow shipments for three months so I could give it to the little guys. I tried it for the first time with this brood. All they did was sit on it while their mom ate the larger pellets. Another lie on the Internet. Imagine that. Can you find all 14 ducklings in the picture (above right)? They’re all there. It took me a while to spot one of them. Give it a try.

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05/20/13 :: New frontrunner in Fertility Tournament!

When I discovered Brood6 at the north end of the pond last evening, she was giving the Canada geese a quack lashing because they were too close to her newly born ducklings (above). Once she recognized me, she brought the kids to meet me. We’re old friends and she’s ahead of schedule by two days. Last year, she hatched Brood5 on May 22nd. There were ten in that brood but only nine in this year’s.

She discovered her brood liked the duck chow so she consistently brought them right up to my feet so I’d feed them. I’m sure she’ll do that again with this brigade. The grass is covered with willow catkins and the duckling were picking through it. I don’t know if they eat the seeds or are finding things to eat under them. They are too young to swallow duck chow pellets.

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05/20/13 :: A noisy introduction to Brood6

Each year, I remind readers to leave newborn fawns where they find them. Michigan white-tailed deer give birth in May and June. Does find places in tall grass or wooded areas where they leave the newborns for up to eight hours at a time. This is done for their protection.

When people find fawns alone, they think their mothers abandoned them. They often “rescue” the fawns which leads to four months of special care with registered wildlife rehabbers. It’s against the law to raise them yourself. Warning: Cow’s milk or baby formula can kill them.

Unless the fawn is sick, injured or the mother is dead, assume it’s fine. Get detailed information about when to intervene at www.FawnCare.com. Share this with Facebook friends and neighbors.

I checked in with Marlboro Mallard who is incubating her eggs in a parking lot far from the Brighton millpond and she’s continuing to sit just like she’s supposed to. Breezes have helped decorate her nest with trash but she doesn’t seem to mind. From the date nesting started estimated by a nearby resident, the ducklings should hatch any day now. Their first major life task will be waddling back to the pond. I’d love to be there when the parade happens.

Dumpling is remaining near the Stillwater Grill but was presumably forced to move out of her small territory by the presence of other ducks and geese families. Even though she remains alone, she seems to be managing. I’ve watched her forage along the shore and swim around a little. She’s still roosting on the fallen tree at night. The wound above her left eye (above) is healing well.

Rusty remains a parking lot attendant. I convinced him to follow me with the promise of some extra duck chow at the end of his journey. We almost made it. Along the way, I coaxed him with a few nibbles. When he saw the huge pond before him, the feathers on the top of his head raised and he spun around and waddled back to the parking lot. Silly duck. Eventually, I’ll cajole him into making the transition to a life in the pond where he can seek some company.

For the fourth day in a row, another brood of ducklings hatched at the Brighton millpond. This is Brood5 in the Annual Fertility Tournament. The hen active in last year’s competition with two separate entries (Brood2 and Brood27), both had a quartet of ducklings.

She’s at least partially a Black Swedish duck, one of a half dozen at the pond that are probably all related. She brought her brood to the exact same spot behind the fire station she used in 2012, but the size of the family is more than three times bigger, a total of 13 fuzzy tykes! Two drakes stay close to her and are probably the fathers, the SAME 2012 drakes. (See 2012, lower left image.) One has a white bib similar to mom’s. Some of their kids will surely have that trait as they grow up, but for now, they all look like typical Mallard ducklings. I’m naming this family group, The Bibley’s, and the mom, Babs Bibley. I like the sound of it. Another bibbed duck will probably raise a brood, the one that was hit by a car.

Babs abandoned her first brood last year to cavort with her drakes and start another family. The orphans joined other abandoned ducklings and tried to raise themselves. She might follow the same pattern this year.

One of the ducklings has an unusual color pattern with gold on the back of her head (above right at the 4 o’clock position). Tux was one of this hen’s ducklings from last year and has easy-to-spot markings. He’s been absent for several weeks. I’m hoping he’s honeymooning in a cove. He left when most of the ducks dispursed so I’m not too worried. The next time we see him he might have tiny ones paddling beside him.

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05/17/13 :: Deja vu ducklings

05/17/13 :: Brood5 makes new friends

May 17: It’s confirmed. SweetPea has a new nest full of eggs, a baker’s dozen! I was able to coax her off the nest with a handful of duck chow last evening so I could count them. She’s dug a nice bowl into the dried needles under a spruce on the millpond lawn near Main Street, probably the best nest she’s built in the past three years but it’s in a vulnerable location where kids might destroy it. Will she sit long enough to hatch them? Probably not.

She’s had ten nests since mid-summer in 2010 and only hatched four ducklings because she gives up after 10-14 of the 28 days needed. Read all of the posts about her eventful life. SweetPea never returned to her first nest of the 2013 season after laying a dozen eggs in it. Apparently, her design sensitivity is just as pedestrian as the rest of my tempermental deduckorating critics. God knows I tried. She’s off to a good start this year with laying 25 eggs in two nests. Last summer, she laid 43 in five nests.

May 13: Even after years of visiting the pond so often, I see things I haven’t seen before. I had the distinct pleasure of seeing a rare wildlife encounter with a young outdoorsman named Chris as we gazed down at the millpond from the Stillwater Grill parking lot. A female red-winged blackbird was perched on a dried purple loosestrife stalk plucking seeds about six inched above the pond’s surface as pictured here. All of a sudden, a fish (probably a largemouth bass) lunged for it coming at least four inches out of the water. The bird lived to tell the story to its nestlings.

May 15: Rounding the cemetery corner, I surprised the park’s resident raccoon. Again. We’re having frequent encounters now that the trash bins are well stocked with Dairy Queen treats and gooey wrappers. Surely hand raised and unwisely dumped in the park last summer, this coon is too comfortable around humans. He’s more likely to see if the two legged creatures have food for him instead of running away. Don’t feed him! If he’s rewarded for coming near humans, he’ll eventually need to be removed from the area or killed. Don’t stick your hand into any park trash bin at night either unless you’re sure he’s not inside it having dessert. So far, he’s the only raccoon I’ve seen this year. Two years ago, we had a sow with five kits spend mid-summer eating mulberries.

May 14: I’m beginning to feel sorry for the Brighton bees. How will they ever finish their work when the trees are this energetic? This ornamental plum (?) (Nanina will correct me in a comment!) greets dinner guests in the parking lot at Stillwater Grill.

No more than 15 feet tall, the branches create a 20′ diameter “umbrella” of blooms crowding each other. Maybe it’s good the bees can’t possibly pollinate all of these flowers. Think of the piles of berries that would accumulate under the tree this fall if they did. We’d have to import extra songbirds to devour them.

The hens are having daily debuts this week! Brood4 arrived last evening on the “point” in front of Stillwater Grill. Seven bundles of fluff were found eating tiny bits along the shoreline. The hen was happy to pose for me since I had some duck chow for her, but she wasn’t thrilled with having other waterfowl nearby. She chased Dumpling out of her comfortable retreat where she has hidden for the past week so her chicks could have the shore to themselves.

When Canada geese arrived, she told them in no uncertain terms they were not welcome (below). Mallard hens are fearless. The geese are at least three times taller and five times the hen’s weight, but she still charged toward them. They quickly left even though the geese could easily subdue the raging hen.

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05/17/13 :: Doting mom, rude hostess