Good Egg Bad Egg

i've intentionally held off on any duck updates because, well, i've kinda been holding my breath & hoping for the best.  i'm afraid that time is passed.
we did have a spark of success about 2 weeks ago (July 19th) when we saw mama swimming with 2 babies after we got home from work.  we didn't have our camera handy so had to run back inside & get it. by the time we got back out to the beach, this was the best we could get

she continued to swim across the river & disappeared around the island.  she left behind 4 eggs.  so we were a bit devastated that she'd abandoned the nest & remaining eggs, but like to think she knew best.  and hey, 2 babies!
HOWEVER, she came back the next day!  Alone! yep, we have no idea where the babies were/are.  we have not seen them since that day.  we kind of hope she's hidden them away or Dad is taking care of them somewhere, but that is unlikely.  she has been on those 4 remaining eggs ever since.
i did a little googling around week 2 & found that the average hatch time is 28 days after the last egg has been laid.  we don't know when that was, but today, Aug 1, it's unlikely those eggs are good.  she won't abandon the nest. my heart is broken. we wonder every day what happened to the 2 babies that did hatch & if there is any way possible the remaining 4 will - doubtful.  i like to think her instinct is best & maybe they will, but, again, doubtful.
for now, here's another close up from the day after we saw those 2 babies with her.  she still will let us get really close to her and the plants in the nest have grown so that she has great coverage.  you can see me trying to console myself.

Tweet

Week3

so how long does it take for duck eggs to hatch?  apparently 28 days after she is done laying.  well our little lady started laying on the 16th but i don't recall exactly when she stopped & started sitting.  on June 22 i counted 6 eggs but i have since seen 9.  today marks 3 weeks total so we could be off by a week easy.  in the meantime, here are some pics i snapped last night while waiting at the end of the dock for her to return.

she saw me waiting in the grass and was a little leery of me.  here she is stretching that neck out checking me out

after what seemed like forever in this heat, she finally jumped back up into the nest to settle down for the night - my favorite part!

Tweet

Day10

i was finally able to get close to Mama Duck tonight. the closer the eggs get to hatching, the longer she tends to stay on the nest & is reluctant to leave.  we learned that from the last 2 nests.  the good is, i can walk up to within maybe 5 feet of her & she won't flinch.  the bad is, i don't want any of the neighbor kids knowing.  so i also try to go out when no one is around so i don't draw any attention.  well, without further adieu.....

i realize now of course, my ISO was a little high so it's a bit grainy.  sorry!  and here she is about 2 hours later, going back in for the night.  

like before, i'm taking this photo (1) in the evening & (2) from up on the deck which is 100+ yards away so i don't disturb her.  but i sure wish you could see the dance she does before hopping up into that nest.  lots of tail wagging!  it's so cute!

i also went back to the last 2 duck nests to see how long before hatching & i think it's about 45 days.  since she laid the first 2 eggs July 16th, we have a bit to go.  but since she's staying longer on the nest, my time could be off.  of course that calculation took into account the days we walked the last two clutches out so they definitely hatch 3+ days prior to that.  i'll try to do a better job on the math this time!

let's keep rooting for her though to see this thing through!

Tweet

Night Shift

okay, it's a terrible photo because i didn't want to go down to the dock last night & scare her off, but we did finally catch mama returning to the nest last night.  it took her about a half hour of just hanging out on the dock before she jump up into the nest & settled down for the night.

Tweet

In the Family Way

no, not that way, but it got your attention didn't it?  haha!  well, she is back!

you may recall we have been a foster family to ducks before which we talked about here as well as on the DailyBoxer.  what i never did post was that our first adventure in 2007 (over on the DailyBoxer) did not end well - after 8 eggs mama abandoned the "nest" & Nacho had to take care of the eggs for me (no there was no omelet).  but we all learned from it (us and the ducks i hope) and our next two hostings in 2008 & 2009 were much more successful.
the last time we had guests, was 2009 & every year we anxiously wait to see if a mama, any mama, will return.  this year we got our wish - last Friday i saw a mama hanging out on our dock & just knew she was either house hunting or had settled in. she'd begun settling in by the looks of mulch all over the dock & the center of the planter dug out.  this was starting out a lot like 2007 & that concerned me.  but as i said before, we've all learned alot! so with that experience in hand, i did a little renovating to this year's rental unit.
we started with this little one bedroom number

i knew right away, based on the 2007 pot, this was not going to be big enough. when you go to your local nursery & ask to buy a planter that isn't for sale & they don't flinch a bit when you tell them why, but instead they offer it up for free, well you know you've got a partner in crime.  Picket Fence was kind enough to let me pay for this galvanized tub - i cannot thank you all enough!

now we are getting somewhere!  the new digs were looking more like this on Friday.

by Saturday, they were looking like this

a little hard to see but there are 2 eggs in there.  we think she has since laid at least 2 more.  her house got  a little beaten up today because we've had some pretty intense wind all day & out there on the dock, that tub is the only protection - i hope she has renter's insurance.  but mama duck is still hanging with us.  fingers crossed we will have a little family soon - whether we get to see them move on like before, who knows, but i will settle for mama just making it all the way this time.

Tweet

Family Reunion

we had a visit a few weeks ago by momma duck and family. it made me feel so much better to know that they'd made it out of the field and into the river, where they should be. thanks to nacho for catching the pics!

Tweet

we have babies

Update
It didn't go exactly as planned and she took ALOT longer than we thought. but Momma and kids finally left the nest at 5:30 this morning (Wed, 27th). This was the only shot we were able to get cuz the flood made it much easier for them to slip away. good luck guys and, as usual, we'll miss you!

more photos to come. mom is off the nest right now "talking" so they should be on their way in about 2 hours i'm guessing. lucky for us i have today off so i'll try to gets pics as they leave.

Tweet

Penthouse Suite

seems more people are interested in what's happened with momma duck than anything. we're guessing she's in the final stretch cuz she hardly leaves the nest. that was a problem Sat as we started flooding. finally at 530am yesterday, thanks to Butters clockwork morning pee, we were able to get to her nest while she was out stretching whatever it is that ducks stretch when they tire of sitting on their nest. so nacho and i used the remaining mulch that was destined for the flood, one of my terra cotta pots, and some concrete fill and physically raised her nest up. she took to it without hesitation. of course she did make some modifications of her own. so fingers crossed all 11+ eggs will be just fine. let's all hope we get to see it this year cuz we think she's due any day now!

Tweet

she is so back!

was able to snap a couple photos of our mom to be this weekend. she has since covered up the hole she dug out so we don't know if there are eggs or not, but we're gonna leave her alone as much as possible. when/if there's something to snap, we'll do and post it! hooray and welcome back girl!

Tweet

welcome back!

to the untrained eye, this is nothing more than a pile of mulch. to us, it's the start of something pretty awesome!

Tweet

here she is!

Tweet

Duck Party

they're back! since we've yet to put the dock out with my usual pot of flowers, our ducks have chosen much nicer accommodations. they've set up house (well nest) in the planter box out on the front of the house. i'll post pics this afternoon when i get home. how cool is that?!

Tweet