Downy duckling day countdown!
With just one week left to go, the Duckery at Slimbridge is a scene of frenzied cleaning! Between the 25th of May and the 2nd June we will open our doors for a fabulous and free programme of tours for our visitors. (Please see the website events page!)
Whilst I agree that a "behind the scenes" experience should be 'dirt n all' there are some things up here that need to be remedied! Whilst some experienced duckery tour veterans may notice there are a few changes this year, some things never change. The ducklings, goslings and cygnets will be as beautiful as ever :) Below is a little teaser of the sorts of species you might see if you come down next week!
Hooded Mergansers are enchanting little ducklings. One of the cavity nesters, these remarkable birds hatch off, dry off, and jump out of their nest! Sometimes they can fall from between 4 and 12 metres! (Check out David Attenborough's Life of Birds for Goldeneyes doing the same...) With 2 fertile clutches of these eggs, we hope to be able to exhibit these for public enjoyment next week. The little mite above with the gooey eye is experiencing ingrowing down problems. Every now and then ducklings have a folicle that grows inwards and causes the eye to weep. We have trimmed it and bathed it, and I hope the little chap can sort himself out soon!
The Yellowbill below are so sweet! Can you tell how different they are to mallard when they are pure? There should be no second stripe on the head, no other colours in the bill, and a little nostril smudge. Those cheeky little faces will be gone any second now as they are a very fast growing species, but there will be loads more of mallard types to see come nes week...
Plus the Greater Magellan goslings made a very comfy down bed for themselves by plonking themselves on top of the European Goldeneye inside the nest coop. Everyone seemed quite content with the arrangement, but we have seaparated them just in case! We expect many species of goose to be on display next week.
