Smew success!

I love Smew. They seem... precise, with tremendous character and depth. I adore the way they animatedly nod at each other as if gossiping maliciously amongst themselves. If a Laysan teal has a cigar and a Carolina a tutu, then a Smew would definitely have a top hat. Excuse me for a moment if you think I have gone temporarily insane, but some species do genuinely inspire this kind of imagery...

This is probably my Slimbridge education talking, but Smew are exceptionally smart birds. The male seasonal plumage appears to be drawn by some kind of divine calligraphy pen, and despite their brown and  grey colouration the females are no less perfect. They achieve something which I think only the Hooded-Merganser can additionally achieve; a sense of disproportionate streamlined power. They appear in complete control of every single tiny feather on their bodies. When in the midst of breeding display these birds can appear up to twice their actual size, but when held in the hand appear exceptionally petite. The female pictured in her box could not have breathed in any further in her effort to appear innocuous. This vulnerability makes them endearing, and I will never grow tired of gazing at that remarkable beak or those piercing beady eyes. 

2011 has brought unreasonable success. Despite putting the entirety of our aging Smew population into one last "hurrah" of a breeding effort in a beautiful fresh deep water pen, the early season display did not in any way correspond with the resulting mid season copulation... A pair of 2010 juveniles had been placed into the pen to mature with the adult breeding birds, and classically all the old boys decided to follow little baby red around (the colour ring the 1 year old female was provided with.) At one point she had no fewer than four dedicated suitors, who fought tooth and nail to be the closest to her side in order to serenade her. At this point I personally began to give up on any success with Smew this year, as the likelihood of a 1 year old female laying, incubating and hatching fertile eggs seemed so unlikely.

Lo and behold, she laid. Not only did she lay in the same box as her mother, but she adopted the same escape pattern! In 2010 our one breeding female Smew actively escaped her pen into the adjacent Bufflehead pond in order to lay her eggs in their box! Her 7 eggs produced 6 fertile eggs of which 3 (2:1) made it to adulthood. In 2011 that lone 2010 bred female escaped with an experienced male to the same pond, to the same box and laid 7 of her own. Despite the chances of fertility being low, 4 fertile eggs were collected into our incubators on the 7th of July. They are hatching as we speak.

These 4 birds will hopefully grow up in time to join the 6 early ducklings from our Arundel centre, the 3 fluffies from the Slimbridge aviaries, and another unknown clutch from Arundel. Of all the diving species we have reared in 2011 they are the only diving type to let the side down at under 10 juvenile birds. I sincerely hope that following the surprising efforts of this sweet little female her offspring will tip us over into the teens!

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