Surprise surprise, yes I have white-winged duck news!
Yay! With the earliest ever white-wing clutch in memory, my duckery female (ZSL/Exmoor origin) has started to incubate.
The view a week ago showed a lovely collection forming in the soft compost in her nestbox, a full 3 weeks before her efforts in 2010.
On Saturday 16th she had a clutch of 7, and it remains to be seen on her 10 day check-up what total she reached. My girl is back in business!
Sadly however it has not been all fun and games. On her third day of incubation her partner (an 8 year old Slimbridge old-timer) passed away, leaving her alone in the pen.
I have no idea if he has been able to fertilise her clutch, and so a waiting game has now begun to see whether he performed. If there is just one fertile I will just HAVE to call it Nemo...
This death marks for me a small validation if you like... When I started my white-wing efforts in 2009 we had 5 original birds at Slimbridge left. The death of this male marks the day that the species would have been lost had it not been for our recent efforts.
Other pairs are looking good too. Her brother is making merry with a Slimbridge female in the pen next door, with 5 pearly eggs currently buried deep within her box.
An old girl from Jersey/Paignton Zoo is cuddling up with a 3 year old SL original, but it remains to be seen whether that at 15 years of age she can quite be um... bothered!
Crossed fingers too for Washington and Llanelli who also have prospective breeding pairs.
With a pair of juveniles going to London and Bristol Zoos, it is exciting to see the species make a comeback in the zoo community.
With birds suddenly springing up for sale on the continent also, the species look good to re-saturate the private sector as well. Hurrah!
