Thursday, November 22, 2018

Muscovy Update & Pond Issues Again

The original brood, Broke Wing's siblings, have all disappeared. I see Muscovy in the area that resemble Mama and believe some are living in the area but no longer in our neighborhood. The second brood, which I call Broke Wing's half siblings (because it's likely they had different daddies) are mostly gone with a handful returning at night to roost by the pond. There is one mysterious Muscovy female around but more on that in a bit.

Mama Muscovy is also gone but that's a sad story. A female was drowned in the pond during breeding with a male. Their intercourse is rather violent. Some folks thought it was a sister of Broke Wing but I trust the neighbor who said it was their Mama. That would also make more sense based on all I have observed the last 9 months and Broke Wing's siblings aren't reproductive age yet.

Back to the mysterious female. She could be a half sibling but I believe she is a different family. You'll think I am crazy when I say she looks different but she does. All the other look a lot like Mama and this one does not. She also seems to be younger than Broke Wing's brood and older than his half siblings. While all the other ducks fly off and leave him behind she is devoted to him. She stay even though she can fly.

The pond is again disappearing due to the time of year. The neighbor who invited them into his pool earlier in the year says he will take Broke Wing but catching him is a concern. I worry that he will be separated from his woman, which may sound silly, but when the other ducks would fly off and leave him for the day, he kinda goes into a trance-like state. When he's alone he barely trusts me and I am a food source to him. He seems to need his kind around him.

The neighbor had a difficult time catching one of the other Muscovy that needed help. I call her Mossy Mouth because she had something like web/net lodged in her throat that collected the Spanish moss that falls off the oak trees. They did finally catch her and it took a while but they removed the obstruction saying it was the netting that encase a bag of onions. I notice she often lands on their fence so she's in the area too.

I'll end with the cutest update. Since Broke Wing can't fly, the others will often walk with him from one pond to the other (there are 2 in our neighborhood). While Broke Wing is staying put at "my" pond, earlier in the season they would spend the day at the other pond and return to my pond at night. It was so heartwarming to see some or all of them walk with hi even though they could fly.

In this video he is trying so hard to fly!
https://www.facebook.com/vickie.carmichael/videos/10213952585062851/





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