This was so precious! I had tears when that little one got in an eddy and was separated but then she came back for him...more tears! Thank you so much for this....adorable!
Sooo cool!! I was on a walk with my sister once and we had our dogs with us. Luckily i noticed before my sisters dog...a belgian shephear....a batch of wood ducks coming out of their nest hole in a super tall red oak. We quietly held the dogs and watched them all jump from at least 20 feet up.
Your videos are always so well focused and colorful. Not over saturated, just colorful and bright. Good job. Got a kick out of the ending too! The close-ups made me realize that so many of them actually TRIED to fly and flap with such grace and determination. From a further back view, it often looks like most of them just do a "cannon-ball"! Thanks for doing this each year.
Remember the comment about mama hearing the chirping of the little ones to know how many are still in the box? Poppycock. She knew how many she hatched, just like she knew that little one wasnt with the other 24.the in the pond!!
It does seem that way. But an instinctive behavior for the ducklings is to respond to her special, soft pulsing "come here now!" call by peeping very loudly - until they are with her; then they become quiet. When she no longer hears peeping from the nest box she knows it's time to go.
7kabel7 I see, only babies remains in nest peep. How wise of them :) Now I understand why I saw some mama flew back her nest and sing to her babies again before jump back on ground to continue singing. This way she doesn’t have to know accounting.
Apparently mowing and yard maintenance is not a bother to the hen. Does she fly off then return, or just hunker down in place? I have a 1.25ac farm pond with one side against woods. The edges don't need a lot of maintenance, however, I do mow it about 5-6 times each spring/summer. I'm wondering whether I would scare the hen too much in doing so or should I place it further back into the woods. Out of mowing area. It would put distance about 30-40yds away from water.
The sounds of mowing and yard work don't seem to bother the incubating hen - her instinct to stay on the nest is strong. The two things that do for sure are bumping / wiggling the nest box or when she sees me through the doorway - that always scares her off of the nest. So I'm careful to stay low when I''m mowing very close (her head is lower than the opening) and not bump the post. Sound does sometimes scare them too - see the example at 5:20 seconds of my "A Wood Duck Story" video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xxXlaPIONCI.html (I think that link will cue it up to the right place for you). However I think what happened is my clicking sounds made her look, and then she saw me. If she does fly off she typically will return soon usually within about 10 minutes.
3:15 - "cmon guys let me see, let me see, this is something new!" duckings brothers proceed to leave - Number 10 - "What da FuQ.. You guys are insane! should I jump or not jump.... oh wow there is mum and everyone else. Jumps off. Next ducking, "wait for me!" A little later... 13: "umm, nice view" 14: "mmm I know." 13: "So I suppose we should jump..." 14: "I don't see mumma, so no" 13: "Ok, me neither" a few moments later: "Oi I think I hear muma - jumungo!" 14 watches... : "Man that was incredible! ... I suppose it's my turn now" 21: "Ahhhh!!!" 22: "Sorry my bad."
