Covered with muck from the shallows, Confidia brought her 6 surviving ducklings to me at the north end of the pond. They are healthy and will probably all make it to adulthood if they can avoid the turtles since they are almost a month old. Two drakes are in attendance with this brood all of the time. How much added protection they provide is unknown. When food is around, they bite the kids to get them out of their way. I think they’re more interested in fathering Confidia’s next brood than guarding the youngsters.
Yesterday, I found them alone peeping like crazy in encourage mom to come home. She had left them to dally with the two drakes. This video has lots of traffic noise in the background since they are only 30 feet from a 5-lane road, but you can still hear them call out. It’s a sound to file away in your head so, when you hear peeping like this on ponds where you live, you’ll know there are ducklings looking for mom even if you can’t see them.
Al the posts relating to 2012Brood4 are here.
