The exciting species just keep on hatching!
The Duckery just keeps on filling up! Despite what feels like heart-breaking disappointments, (hardly any stifftail and not a single whistling duck,) there are species that have filled the void...
Freckled duck are one of the most capivating species; not least because of their rarity in capivity but also because they are so ridiculously emotive. These prehistoric little ducks are an evolutionary loophole, with their anatomy exhibiting elements of swan characteristics as well as duck! They pre-date the genus, and do upon closer inspection indeed seem rather under-evolved...
They make no effort at waterproofing. For 5 weeks they will sit like puddings making porridge out of their food and filtering it through their nostrils. In the process they get ridiculously covered in rancid wet crumb and this solidifies onto their down like weetabix onto a breakfast bowl! In the case of the punk rocker below, these extra adornments eventually pluck out the down as their bodies grow, leaving them a touch bald in places! People ask do I wash them? Well the answer is no. If you don't let a Freck get sticky, they become fearful and stop eating. I'd rather an ugly duckling than a starving duckling any day... Eventually their quills will push and we will put them outside onto a paddock with a pond. Until their feathers are fully out they will get SOAKED several times a day as they attempt to waterproof the new growth. All group activity is accompanied by the classic calls of "squeeeee" and lots of tossing their heads around. These naughty little teenagers are just on the cusp of growing up :)
The Orinoco pair laid again and achieved 7 healthy goslings making their total 17 in 2 years; a brilliant result indeed. These gorgeous little sheldgeese masticate louder than any goose on the face of the planet. They will swarm across the grass as a group and you can hear them pinching out the fresh grass shoots from a 100 yards away!
The waders in Wader Shore went to town this year. Every female laid a fertile clutch, and some avocets even laid two! They have been really successful since their introduction to the aviary, and have even been joined by a few parading wild birds which will peek in at them through the fence before heading off to the Rushy or South Lake areas. Due to the aggression exhibited by the black-winged stilts we are forced to hand rear our waders. I cannot say that I mind much?! Had we hatched every fertile avocet egg we would have bred 30! As a result we decided to share the wealth a bit, and ended up keeping 13 avocet, 4 stilt and 4 redshank. They prove quite reliable to rear because they hardly make any mess, and just love a good bit of Lundi micro... These 3 stilts had such character I could have looked at them for hours.
The avocets grew remarkably quickly and rapidly showcased that they were wholly unable to manage their own food intake... The little fatties looked like footballs on legs! We made the decision to ration them during the day so as to allow healthy and even leg growth and feather quill development. As a result, feed times became a little frantic... Even so we taped up a couple of angel wings; alhough, they were remarkably easy to correct. This group have now joined their 7 counterparts in our wader graduation pen, where they can mature a little more before joining the big wide world :)
