I don’t know how strong her brooding instinct is. Pekins usually don’t have enough to hatch out their own ducklings, but she’s got a nest in a brush pile.
The father would be a Rouen drake, so the ducklings will be of many colors.
Posted in birds, tagged domestic mallard, Pekin duck on May 28, 2016|
I don’t know how strong her brooding instinct is. Pekins usually don’t have enough to hatch out their own ducklings, but she’s got a nest in a brush pile.
The father would be a Rouen drake, so the ducklings will be of many colors.
Posted in birds, tagged domestic duck, domestic mallard, Pekin duck, Rouen duck on July 26, 2015|
He’s almost done growing in his adult breeding plumage:
And he has discovered his purpose in life, nailing two pekin hens within five minutes:
Posted in birds, tagged domestic duck, domestic mallard, Rouen duck on July 17, 2015|
Posted in birds, tagged domestic duck, domestic mallard, Rouen duck on June 22, 2015| 1 Comment »
The two Rouen drakes are now growing in their adult plumage now. I can see some green feathers on their heads now. It won’t be long before they are full greenheads. Their gray penciled feathers are coming in, and their breasts are now a chestnut color.
If you’ve seen my recent videos, they are also making the drake vocalization, which sounds like some kind of frog. It’s not a quack. Only hens quack.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged domestic duck, domestic mallard, mallard, Pekin duck, Rouen duck on June 22, 2015|
Posted in birds, tagged domestic duck, domestic mallard, Duck, filter-feeding, Rouen duck on June 20, 2015|
Mallard derivatives often engage in a foraging behavior that some people call “drilling.” Â Whenever these ducks encounter standing water, their instincts tell them that water has tendency to draw out worms and other invertebrates. The best way to capitalize on this situation is to stick their bills into the water or mud and to force the water out of through these tooth-like structures on the insides of their mouths. Any worms or invertebrates that are caught on these structures are quickly eaten.
It is almost like how baleen whales feed, but it’s done much smaller amounts of water and so rapidly that it appears as if the ducks are drilling into the at full steam.
They use this same method on the water, but on land, they can easily turn an area into a muddy morass in very short order.
This is what they left behind after only about 15 minutes drilling.
Posted in birds, tagged domestic duck, domestic mallard, mallard, Pekin duck, Rouen duck on June 20, 2015|
Posted in birds, tagged domestic duck, domestic mallard, Duck, mallard, Pekin duck, Rouen duck on May 23, 2015| 1 Comment »
Posted in birds, golden retriever, tagged domestic mallard, golden retriever, mallard, Pekin duck, Rouen duck on May 15, 2015|
Posted in birds, tagged domestic mallard, mallard, Pekin duck, Rouen duck on May 12, 2015|