Duckling Update

Just when I was doubting I’d see the duck families again this summer, two different families of Common Mergansers and one Wood Duck family came by in the last week, and it was impressive to observe their growth and development….and it was especially heartening to see that a majority of the littles have survived to what looks like duck adolescence.

Common Merganser juveniles, downy fuzz almost completely replaced by feathers, they are not quite ready to fly.

It can’t be easy for a mama duck to keep her brood safe from all the creatures living along the river who would find duckling a tasty morsel because the young start feeding independently as soon as they hit the water and the phrase “herding cats” doesn’t quite seem adequate as they dart in and out of current, up and down the bank, and through all kinds of fallen limbs at the water’s edge.

This Wood Duckling about to grab breakfast off the floating mat of algae.

Here you can see the size difference between mom and her young, as well as the facial markings and different eye color of the juveniles.

This Wood Duckling still has a lot of fluff on top, but the feathers on its underside have filled in well. The youngster seems to have found a snail to snack on and has drifted quite a ways away from mom.

This Merganser is still a juvenile, told by the multi-colored eye, but is just about full grown, and will be flying soon.

Wood Duckling showing the beginnings of scapular feathers mixed in with down.

As year-round residents, these birds will disperse along the river as young adults venture off on their own. We are lucky enough to live in the year round range for both these species. I haven’t seen the small Mallard family I posted about a few weeks back, but I’ll be keeping watch.

Here’s that earlier post: