Words4It

We have about four dark colored ducks on the Brighton millpond with white bibs. I don’t know what species they are. If someone knows, please leave a comment. This hen is the mom of Brood 19, only one duckling and shouldn’t be confused with the other successful one who is now raising four newborns in her second clutch. They might be sisters because they look so much alike.

This duckling — celebrating being a month old — will have a white bib like its mom. It will be more prominent than Triumph’s, the duckling currently adjusting to life with adult ducks.

I need to create a page showing the typical growth pattern of ducklings from day 1 until they’re full fledged adults at about four months old. If I didn’t keep track of it by birth dates, I couldn’t tell how to judge the age of the little guys. There must be something online stating the characteristics for each week, but I haven’t looked for it.  I have enough pictures now to assemble a collage of how they look each week and just need to take the time to create it.

On spring and summer days, I’m often surprised by things I see at the pond. This hen hangs out with two drakes in the same location near the Imagination Station. I’s swear I’ve seen her 3-4 times a week lately so I can’t figure out how she was nesting for 28 days. Maybe she stole the chick from another hen.

June 26th, I found her with just one duckling. It’s no more than a day old. This hen is one of the pond’s four dark ducks with white bibs. I don’t know if it’s a species of duck or just a color phase of Mallard. I can’t find anything online that is similar to her. The dark duckling has a gold patch in the middle of its chest.

A second white bibbed duck has hatched a brood. This one only has one duckling and she’s very attentive.

06/28/12 :: Brood 19: Just one duckling
07/28/12 :: A bib for the baby