Saturday I made a brief stop at the wetlands where I mostly saw Canada geese doing their "bottoms up" routine and little else. However, as I was leaving the Manky Mallard ducks all came out to greet me and spent a lot of time dunking and dipping and cleaning their feathers in front of me.
The group consists of 3 black with lots of irridescent green on them, 1 B&W with a greenish head, and 2 light brown which I assume are females.
It was hard to get the B&W one showing all his pretty parts. He has a bit of a streak across the eye in white, tiny black feathers mixed on his chest and that greenish tinge to his head that only shows when he turns the right direction in the sun. And a very yellow bill. (These shots show the colors better if you click to make them larger.)
The black ones all have irridescent green in their feathers which can look so pretty when the sun hits them right. This one has more green than one of the others.
This one is a bit more black, with just a hint of green.
They were having a lot of fun cleaning and showing off their feathers to me.
There was a lot of splashing and tail wagging and dipping down under and then raising up on their tails.
I was suprised to see those white looking feathers buried under the wing of this one. I began to get their rhythm and know when they were going to raise up.
The brown ones were less active. They basically just remind me of really pale female Mallards.
It was fun to see them sit up and flap they wings....but hard to catch the motion!
My favorite shot of the black one with its head upside down cleaning under its wing
Head tucked in checking each feather.
They spent a great deal of time at this.
A side view while sitting up on his tail.
I can see just a hint of blue on this ones wing.....a bit of the "wild" Mallard showing up?
The group consists of 3 black with lots of irridescent green on them, 1 B&W with a greenish head, and 2 light brown which I assume are females.
It was hard to get the B&W one showing all his pretty parts. He has a bit of a streak across the eye in white, tiny black feathers mixed on his chest and that greenish tinge to his head that only shows when he turns the right direction in the sun. And a very yellow bill. (These shots show the colors better if you click to make them larger.)
The black ones all have irridescent green in their feathers which can look so pretty when the sun hits them right. This one has more green than one of the others.
This one is a bit more black, with just a hint of green.
They were having a lot of fun cleaning and showing off their feathers to me.
There was a lot of splashing and tail wagging and dipping down under and then raising up on their tails.
I was suprised to see those white looking feathers buried under the wing of this one. I began to get their rhythm and know when they were going to raise up.
The brown ones were less active. They basically just remind me of really pale female Mallards.
It was fun to see them sit up and flap they wings....but hard to catch the motion!
My favorite shot of the black one with its head upside down cleaning under its wing
Head tucked in checking each feather.
They spent a great deal of time at this.
A side view while sitting up on his tail.
I can see just a hint of blue on this ones wing.....a bit of the "wild" Mallard showing up?Very pretty and very tame.....always waiting around for a hand-out from someone who doesn't read the signs saying not to feed them.
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14 comments:
Oh my goodness, they ARE having fun!! A lovely series Mary and the cold water does not seem to bother them at all. :) Wouldn't it be nice if that was all it took to clean us too? A quick dip then shake of the water. :)
I love duck watching. They tend to be very social birds don't they. Great shots by the way. =)
They certainly are of dubious origin Mary. {:)
I used to have one that looked just like that white one Mary! They sure are sweet! Great pictures!
Ar,nt the ducks fun to watch even more so when they have the first ever time in the water.
explanation. we used to rear rare breeds. most of the duck eggs were bought from a rare breed fowl reservation. and we would then put the eggs in an incubator. some of the more rare ones like the Welsh harlequin. were put under the Muskovi 's Muskovi are a mix of duck and goose so they say,
but were good brooders sometimes they would sit on 3 batches. and the last batch she would insist on looking after. and also insist on taking them down to the pond. after the first drowning,. we found out the reason, ducks have a an oil gland top side of the parsons nose. another reason they always rub their neck on that spot the oil makes them waterproof and its little ones . we all think that baby ducks can't drown but they will without mums oil muskovis do not do this to there young neither do geese.
little bit more info silkies (hens) are also good brooders often sitting on 3 batches but only 3 goose eggs or 5 duck eggs and you always put an odd number under them 13 if their own eggs. the eggs will adle if there is a thunderstorm.but not the goose or duck eggs, is'nt that strange.
the bit on ducks first time . all the ducks that come out of the incubator would be housed in a run or the shed until the first feathers were grown then let out too roam free and no matter what they always headed straight for the pond that was 200 yards away down the bottom of a bank. I always tried to watch them on the first dip.
Beautiful Ducks! Love to watch them! Great shots!
Joan: I prefer my baths in cleaner water, but they sure seemed to enjoy theirs in this rather muddy lake.
Kathy: They do seem very social and didn't mind me standing there watching them and taking photos. Of course, this group are used to being fed.
Roy: It does make you wonder about their breeding. The green on the head seems to come through on all the dark ones and the bills look like Mallards. This was the first time I saw the little patch of blue on the ones side.
Eve: I thought it was a very pretty one, with all the little color touches.
Tony: Wow...thanks for all the information from an expert! I've never raised any sort of ducks or geese, although we did have chickens when I was growing up. I hated reaching under them to get eggs and always chased them off the nest :-)
Dorothy: Thanks! It was a nice day for duck watching.
Great pictures of the ducks, Mary... Looks like they posed for the camera. It's amazing how much color those birds do have---even if it is hidden most of the time.
Hugs,
Betsy
Those are interesting ducks.Such a variety of colors.You have great shots of them.
Blessings,Ruth
Wonderful set of photos Mary. I like your favourite one best, the dark on with his head tucked around. Also the dark one with the more greenish feathers on the back. Beautifully subtle.
These are wonderful pictures. The colors really do show very nicely when the photos are enlarged. Thanks for sharing these with us.
Betsy: they made me smile to watch them.
Ruth: I love the color in the dark ones.
Jenny:They really do have beautiful feathers and the heads of the dark ones looks so soft I wanted to touch them.
George:Thanks...glad you liked them.
What a gorgeous bunch, and such great pictures Mary. I like all the antics they go through when preening.
I haven't seen any ducks around here in a while. I did see 3 Common Merganzers about a week ago, but as usual they were swimming away from me at warp speed.
B.
Becky: Well, this bunch are like "pets" and are always hanging around. I didn't see many wild birds that day.
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