I don't get out much...

...but I like it that way. And keeping an eye on the ducklings outside my dining room window is a terrific study for me. I don't profess to ever be a duck expert, but I can tell you now that ducks and humans have very similar traits, if you look hard enough.





The ducklings this spring showed up in this order:

• Mom(1) and Dad with 6, that are now only 3
• Mom(2) and Dad with 3, that are now 2
• Mom(3) with 10, that are now 9
• Mom(4) and Dad with 3, that are now 2
• Mom(5) with 11, all still here
• Mom(6) with 8, all still here

The first 6 were down to 5 within a few days and then I noticed that the babies would come alone with the parents following--it definitely reminded me of alcoholic parents, where the parents and children exchange roles. After only a week or so, Mom and Dad only showed up sporatically to feed. Sometimes, they all would all trot off together, but the babies would inevitably come back alone. When the babies were at the pond, it was obvious that they were outcasts.



Babies of Mom2 and Mom4 were abandoned when they were about a week old. [Guess I was off the mark thinking Mom2 was going to be attentive.] They would hang around, at a distance, to the Mom3, but spend some nights huddled together here at the pond.
Curiously, the male ducks would always run Mom4 away, much to my dismay. Mom and Dad's compromise would be to stay at the front of the house while the little ones would make their own way to the pond and back

The good news for all the orphans is that Mom3 eventually took them in and they are one HUGE family!! So, of course, I make sure they all get special attention--even when they make their way to the back door to beg for food!



I'm very proud of Mom5 and Mom6 who have succeeded in keeping the whole family intact. They must have some great hiding spaces for sleeping because they have only ever spent a night or two on the side of the pond.



Needless to say, it gets a bit loud and splashy when all 35 ducklings show up. And, with them all quacking and diving and molting and finding their wings, it's quite good entertainment!

By Christmas, they will all be gone and it will be quiet, once more.

Meet some of my garden friends

Here is the patheticat we call Bubba. I always thought that cats innately chased winged animals, but obviously I was mistaken in that theory. The fact that the ducks are not even the slightest bit bothered by his presence is almost as eerie as his lack of enthusiasm to attack the ducks.



This is the neighbor's cat. Shhh!! She thinks she's a lawn ornament!

This is a tui that caught me taking his picture as he dined on the nectar of the kowhai (ko-fie) tree. They have a white tuft at the throat of a metallic black/green body. Their own song is hauntingly metallic, but beautiful to hear, but they are also mimics of humans and other animals--it's strangely funny to hear a duckling calling from a treetop!


I believe you have met the fantail in a former post. They are very nice to have around, especially in the summer, as they eat flying bugs like mosquitoes (called mossies, here). They are not particularly afraid of humans and seem to be showing off their beautiful tails all the time. There is a pair of these that have discovered our compost barrels!


I know this isn't the mental image you get in the US when I mention the word 'pigeon'. It's a wood pigeon and is much larger than those in America. I love their red beaks and feet, such a distinctive trait. They eat berries, so they are attracted to the strawberry trees across the lane in the summertime.


Earlier in this blog, I mentioned Einstein, who seemed to know when I was going to put out bread or seed. These are a few more of the gorgeous yellow finches that beg for food on the back patio. Their color is quite striking and they apparently don't mind getting wet if there is birdseed involved.


These are cute little waxeyes. Click the picture to get a better look to find out where they got their name (warning, the pictures are big). They are smaller than the finches that come around and they definitely let the other birds get to the seed first! But, I find them fascinating in their color and deftness of flight. I don't recall anything quite like them in Kansas.

New Zealand trivia

Some of this is personal observation, some was blatantly stolen from various websites.

In New Zealand you can get milk from Bulls.

Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, has the largest Polynesian population in the world.

There is no tree on Auckland's One Tree Hill, but there was one until a few years ago.

Most native New Zealand trees are evergreen. Not pretty green, but definitely green.

The only accordion museum exhibition in the southern hemisphere is in Dargaville.

This country is the size of Colorado or the UK and would fit into the Caspian or Baltic Seas.

Lake Taupo, the big lake in the middle of the North Island, is the worlds largest volcanic crater.

There are over ten million beef and dairy cattle in NZ.

The Kiwi bird, which is about the size of a domestic chicken, lays an egg that is almost a quarter of its total body weight.

New Zealand is actually some 1,000 miles from Australia.

We have the world's:

largest flightless birds [ the kakapo],
largest earthworms,
greatest timber volume of any tree [the kauri]
heaviest insect [the Weta].

If you live in Gisborne, you are living in the first city to see the light of a new day.

New Zealand has one of the highest car ownership rates in the world, with 884 per thousand people.

We have the first documented case of 'exploding trousers'.

Unlike most countries around the world, New Zealand Pizza Hut offers chips with its deliveries.

New Zealand is one of only three countries that have two official national anthems.

The Wildfoods Festival is held in Hokitika, New Zealand each year. You can sample icky cuisine like possum pate and fried duck tongue.

Bungee jumping was invented here, as were
tranquilizer dart gun,
pavlova,
milking machines,
ear tags for animals,
disposable syringes,
blokarting and
zorbing--
THUS proving that there's not much to do here when it's raining! 

Here, same sex marriages, prostitution, soliciting, and brothel keeping are all legal.

Ninety-Mile Beach isn't.

New Zealand oversees two overseas territories, Tokelau and Ross Dependency (in Antarctica). We also keep an eye on the Cook Islands and Niue.

Wellington, the capital city, is windier than Chicago!

New Zealanders consume 4kg of chocolate per capita annually.

The Maori name of New Zealand is Aoteroa, which means "Land of the Long White Cloud."

New Zealand has 6000 kilometers of coast line and nowhere is more than 120km from the coast.

There are no native predators here--no snakes or lions or tigers or bears, oh my!

New Zealand has every climate in the world.

Each year New Zealand has about 100 to 150 quakes that are big enough to be felt. The last fatal one was 2016.

The longest road bridge in New Zealand is the Rakaia River Bridge and is 1,757 metres long.

The population of the city of Sydney, Australia, is greater than the entire population of the country of New Zealand.

We have one ski resort called The Remarkables and one called The Aspiring.

Ernest Rutherford, who is known as the father of nuclear physics for his orbital theory of the atom, is from New Zealand.

They are everywhere!

A few days ago, we were surprised again by our second duck family. This time there were only three ducklings, but their dad is older (his colors are mature) and both parents appear to be much more experienced than the first pair.

All of this sharing of the pond is cute during the day, but last night, about 1AM, first mom came wandering to the pond with her four, which upset the trips' mom, of course, and...well, you can imagine the noise and splashing that ensued!!

Then, this morning, I hear babies cheeping and thought it was the trips, but it was the older babies crying. It bothers me a lot because mom and dad, both, had deserted them...again... but we know we mustn't interfere. I tell everyone, myself included, ...'we don't want pet ducks, we don't want pet ducks'.


In reality, the remaining four of them are old enough to huddle together for safety and they dive for the water when they are scared, so I'm not real worried about them as long as they stay closeby.

It's not unusual, but I still find it giggly that ALL the ducklings have connected the opening of the patio door with being fed, so they look like jet boats on a mission whenever the door rattles!

Some days I'm glad that they only take 3 months or so to learn to fly and head out on their own...and some days I feel sad about it.

^^^^^^^^^^NOTE^^^^^^^^^^

The morning after posting this entry, I awakened to find family #3 huddling on the side of the pond. This time mom brought 10 little peepers!

^^^^^^^^ANOTHER NOTE^^^^^^^^^

Then on September 19, another mum with three ducklings showed up, and on September 20, a mom with 9 or 10 came to the pond, but got sidetracked in the drainage ditch.

I really don't think this is the end, either!!