The Mother duck of the 7 ducklings was killed by the neighbors dog. Those poor little ducklings swim around calling her. I saw them this morning and they were still all together. Here are a few pictures of them before Mom was killed... sad
I don't know for sure...I was hoping the Male would step in to replace Mom duck but we haven't seen that . They were still swimming around yesterday...we have some big birds here and I have seen an eagle last year pull apart something with feathers, you could see the feathers flying down from the branch. That is one reason I am glad we haven't seen many eagles lately....our small town put up a new bridge last summer and now they are working on fishing platforms because the fisherman can't fish from the new bridge. Those won't be finished until the end of September. Our town had a bridge that went up when large boats came through and they replaced it. There was a lot of blasting to get the old pillars out, etc. so that cut down on a lot of the normal birds we had the first year we moved in here. Plus we have jet skies and boats and I haven't seen any attempts of them flying yet... It makes me feel better every day I see them knowing that they are one day older....
The ducklings stay in the nest for at least 10 hours while they dry and get used to using their legs. Then, usually in the early morning, the female leads them to water. Bad weather may delay this exodus, but the sooner the ducklings get to water to feed, the better their chances of survival. They cannot survive without their mother, and take 50-60 days before they fledge and become independent. The nest is abandoned, although if it is close to the feeding area, the family may continue to use it for brooding and roosting. I also just read that another duck could drown them and not to place a small one with them....I do see them eating off of the bottom of the shore line, I am hoping they find enough food...
I haven't seen them for days...the last time I did see them was when the waves were so big and we had white caps on them. We have been having rainy weather with strong winds...
