Make Way for Ducklings, Possibly

Mallards, as we all know, are pretty common birds, found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, they are the duck that springs to mind when most people think of a duck. Yet it was an uncommon sight that greeted me the other day when I crested the hill behind my house heading for the bog. There was my dog, running full tilt up the trail with a female mallard flying low and just inches in front of him. Hollering for him to stop didn’t do any good, and I kept just willing her to gain altitude when it dawned on me, she is doing this on purpose. Leading him on a merry chase far from, goodness, what must be her nest nearby. Now the surprise in this is that it must be at least a quarter mile to the water, maybe more and in my mind it seemed odd she should choose to nest this far in the woods. But perhaps that is not so surprising, at least not out of the question.

Thankfully the dog came back empty handed, and I saw her circle us from above. Now, to look for the nest.
And there it was, no more than 5 feet off the main trail, behind a pitch pine, and thankfully somewhat guarded by Catbriar, but still, too close to this oft used trail for comfort. I would question the advice she got from her realtor on this issue, “seldom used country lane” perhaps she was told. But used enough, and by dogs. Of course I jest, the female and the male scout the nearby territory to find something suitable, and it is all on her shoulders to choose. Perhaps at the right time of day this seemed a lovely spot. Well, the next morning when I walked by, the eggs were gone. And I thought whoa, preyed upon already? But there were no broken shells, no sign of disturbance. Hmm, had she moved them, I think I have heard they can do this, but how I don’t know, rolling them along? Carrying them in their beak? I don’t know. Then to keep this mystery going, today, they were back! No action-cam set up to catch this. Were they new eggs, or did she move them back? I really can’t say with any certainty, just that this will be fascinating to watch.

Mallards do take a few days to lay their clutch then the female would begin incubating them for much of the day. The pond that I saw them sporting about on is, as I said, probably a quarter mile or so from here, and when you see a pair on a spot for a few weeks and defending it, you assume that is their territory and that the nest must be nearby. But although it is their territory, it is not where the nest will be. And for this season, she just has strayed perhaps a little further than usual. This morning I saw her circling nearby, but being chased by a crow. Who also is defending the right to keep his family’s nest a secret. The woods are full of such intrigue at this time of year. So, as I said, we will see if this is a nest that in the end works for her, or if she will have to start again in spot less traversed by one and all.

The nest is beautiful, a good foot across and rimmed with her plucked downy feathers. When she leaves the nest she will cover the eggs with the down to keep them warm, which wasn’t what happened the other day, they weren’t just covered, they simply weren’t there. It would be something if she made it all the way to ducklings at this spot. I saw a young coyote not terribly far from here the other day, so it would seem an easy place for predators to find too, but I wish her well.
And it will make that first morning walk full of intrigue for me, and also a call for a leash for my dog.

Just another side duck note, for the last 4 days or so I have seen a Blue Winged Teal pair hanging about on the slough and pond and would that not be lovely if they decided to nest here too.
Perhaps they are just passing through and enjoying finding things pretty much to themselves for the moment. Unlikely I would spot their nest for it is usually hidden at the waters edge, a hollow lined with down also, but if they continue to stick around one could hope. Far more rare than our Mallard, at least in my area but able to find happiness in the smallest of water areas. They don’t dive under for food but just skim off the top and they don’t need a huge space to get running along the water to gain altitude but lift up almost immediately. So again, we shall see. Its why walking the same area each day has its own intrigue, its own plot line to follow. I will keep you posted.

Although let me say here, with my return home from TN and a return to a busier time at work, and a move that hovers overhead like a gray cloud, I have not found as much time for to write this as I would like. Spring Azures are out
and I didn’t mention them, and the Queen Bumblebees are flying low over the leaves looking for a suitable nest sight to start their broods. Life is finally waking up here in the Northeast and it would be nice to have time to talk about it. But we shall do what we can, when we can. For anyone south of this latitude, you are well ahead of us anyway and this is all old news! May you be enjoying whatever mysteries present themselves at your door as I shall enjoy mine.

Rewinding Spring

I am back from Tennessee, one cute little grandson added to the family tree, and just like last year, it comes as a bit of a shock to go from the full tilt spring into summer that one finds in TN in April to the, “I am possibly thinking of budding” spring you find on Cape Cod in April.

In TN everything was in bloom, the dogwoods which are everywhere there, went from bare branches to flowers,
the maples shot out helicopter seeds to cover the back yard and unfurled their leaves over the three weeks. Bird song reached near deafening proportions. There must be at least 4 or 5 pairs of cardinals trying to out sing each other in my daughter’s yard and they got at it as early as dawn would allow and never let up all day.
I hit a spate of insomnia and found the bird song continues through the night with mockingbirds taking up where the cardinals left off.

Last year I wrote about the hundreds of grackles and starlings and cowbirds that have made a patch of bamboo in their neighbors yard their roosting place. It was just as fascinating this time watching them gather in large numbers in nearby tree tops and then plummet down into the bamboo to claim their spot for the night. Making a racket the whole time. And the process was reversed in the morning. Dawns early light, more racket, everyone getting their marching orders for where they were flying off to that day and off they would go.

Back home, just as after Australia it seemed the dozen or so birds at the birdfeeder at any time paled next to the 1,000’s of parrots that congregated there, now my singing cardinals seem quiet by comparison. Sweet to watch the male feeding the female, so while in TN nests were well under way, here we are perhaps still in the courting phase.
The dawn chorus is growing though, my wrens and song sparrows join in, and the “peter peter” of titmice gets ever increasing but still, nothing to rattle you out of bed as those TN tunesters were doing.

I hear osprey are back on the bogs,
though I have yet to see them, the mute swan I drive by is on her nest and crows have been flying by with sticks in their mouths since I left in late March. The temps which in TN were often in the 80’s are back in the 50’s here so once again one adjusts to the ricochet of climate. And I hear, when the temperature of the water in the Bay equals the temperature of water in the streams nearby, the herring and alewives will be on their way. Spring will be playing it forward here on the Cape.

Wherever you are, I hope there is some sense of newness in the air, bright colors of spring, songs of the birds and an Easter that frames it all with new life. May we all find some reason to rejoice!

A Long Hiatus

It’s been some time since a blog inclination has crossed my mind. I left for TN about 10 days ago and found that my daughter could give birth to a grandson faster than I could drive from Baltimore to TN. He timed his arrival on the one day when they would have to rely on friends rather than Nona to watch Elena and so they did.

Now ten days later, I am trying to remember what it is I said that I would write about when next I got a moment. I vaguely remember wanting to tell you one more thing about Australia; the way so many animals of one kind or another presented themselves, not with one here or there, but with hundreds and more. Parrots and bats in the Cairns and Sydney area but in the south, profusion showed up in insect form. Along the Great Ocean Road of Victoria where the main event is the sweeping ocean views,
the wild surf, and the towering cliffs eroded away from land, the famous 12 Apostles, I was stunned to find that almost anywhere we stopped the air was filled with dragonflies and butterflies. It was arresting. Not just a few, but literally thousands of each, flying against the ocean wind, hovering over the cliffs. Was this a usual phenomena or was it brought on by all the rain?

The butterflies were mostly cabbage white butterflies, which has to make you wonder, where were the cabbage and cauliflower plants growing in such profusion to feed the larvae to pupate into these hundreds and hundreds of butterflies?

Admittedly, I am no entomologist, and even Google isn’t helping much here. It does say the cabbage white was introduced from Europe to Melbourne in 1929 and has since become a pest. A lovely flit all about you pest, but if I were a gardener I suppose I would be shuddering rather than marveling. Surely, they must feed on something else that grows wild. Two wasp species have been introduced and are said to be controlling their numbers, but if this is what a controlled population looks like I can’t imagine when they were full blown!

The dragonflies, which again, without an insect guide handy when I had one literally in my hand, shall go unnamed. Mostly a dull brown, but they may have been the bonus of all that rain that flooded through Victoria, fresh water marshes springing up everywhere perhaps. They I believe are a welcome sight for they feed on the locust larvae so, for this, gardeners may be happy.

Well, some blog eh? One in which I have to admit to little knowledge, but just to share that the effect was memorable. An already breathtaking scene, than overlaid with flitting insects all around. Again spoiling me for seeing, as I have here in TN a cabbage white here or there. Perhaps I should get into the mindset of a cabbage farmer and be thankful they aren’t filling the air.