I’m sad and luckless,
For my pond is duckless.
Yesterday I fed Honey a huge dollop of peas and corn; she was on land, so it was easy to give her large amounts without them quickly sinking below dabbling level. As I fed her, I noticed that her flight feathers had grown pretty big. You can see them here.
Here she is scarfing down her lunch:
But today I’ve gone to the pond, food in hand, twice—and she’s gone! Flown the coop! Yes, I think her molt being over, and her wings ready to go, she simply flew off for bigger and better ducky things.
I am quite sad, though that’s tempered with the knowledge that she was heathy and well fed. Perhaps she’ll return next year, and maybe I’ll recognize her by the black stippling on the sides of her beak (I have an enlarged photo). But feeding the red-eared sliders isn’t quite the same; I’m unable to bond with turtles. And what am I going to do with the half pound of freeze-dried mealworms that I ordered to fuel her departure, and which will arrive today?
At least when your kids go off to college, and you become an empty nester, you know you’ll see them again.
Wow, this is almost a replay of the opening sequence of The Sopranos. If you have an anxiety attack, it will be a case of art dictating life. :o)
Calling Dr. Melfi, calling Dr. Melfi. Dr. Melfi to the WEIT unit, stat.
I was just going to post the same thought. Jerry Soprano has a ring to it.
In my mind’s eye I see PCC stony-faced, firmly ushering Reza Aslan or PZ Myers onto his boat, and taking them for a ride out to sea from which they never return.
I don’t think that’s something that should be joked about.
Fair enough. But it is a joke remember – I don’t actually think Jerry is a mafia don.
Those mealworms should feed next year’s ducks!
When our daughter moved away she took the roasted insects with her.
I think they can be frozen.
OTOH there are birds that stay around into the winter that might very much like this resource. So perhaps a bird feeder to dispense it.
Do squirrels eat mealworms?
Yet.
Given their … dexterity, is this a path that should be experimented upon.
(Arms nuke inventory on ISS-2. To be sure.)
Can you store the mealworms? Will they keep? Maybe there will be a duck for you next year. Or maybe Honey will return next year and recognize you.
I hope you become able to relate to the turtles. I envy you, because I like turtles. And I love snakes! I have two ball pythons. I used to have three, but I gave one to my son-in-law.
Anyway my condolences on the empty spot in your world. I sure do hope Honey will return at some point and you’ll know she’s okay.
I felt sad when the robin my parents raised flew away to migrate. The robin was so cute and had such a personality.
I wouldn’t worry too much yet. Even up here, ducks have been known to not migrate. And especially where they have been fed? Oddsare with you, I would guess. (That’s why we aren’t allowed, by law, to feed them; they have to fly away, but more and more are staying). So keep a look out. The mealworms stay in the freezer.
Bittersweet
You should be proud! Or something!
+
Maybe you can freeze the worms. My grandfather use to catch mice for fishing and he would keep them in the freezer. Grandma was not thrilled.
The mice weren’t either.
😀
At least with your mealworms you won’t be guckless.
“We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when”
If she has left, she’ll come back next year because she was so successful, right? We have wrens that come back to nest every year in the same place. We can’t be sure they are the same ones every year, of course, but we like to think they are.
I don’t know but if she does I can identify her by her bill. I hope I see her again.
I hope you do too. I’d been watching a mated pair of swans from 2003 until 2012 which showed every year at a nearby pond.
If you knew her nesting/ resting site and could confidently assign *this* feather to Honey, would it be worthwhile DNA-fingerprinting it?
Do the roots (remiges? something like that) of dinosaur feathers have enough cellular material to ID DNA from? On reflection, humans (& presumably other mammals) don’t shed enough reliable DNA on their hair for forensic use, which is why they pluck (i.e. pull out by the root) hair for a DNA test. How well that translates to the more complex development of dinosaur feathers, I don’t know. But I bet someone does.
Dunno about the dinos, but in extant birds, remiges are the wing/flight feathers (and the the tail feathers are rectrices).
Ah. I’d see the term as “remiges attachment scars” on bones (Archaeopteryx or Compsognathus, or something like that) and took it ot refer to the rooting/ growth structures, not the feathers themselves.
But do the feathers contain DNA, or do you need to get some of the tissue analogous to the follicle of a mammalian hair?
Yes, you can now do genomics on birds with just part of the feather quill. Here’s a rather old paper but one of the first that came up with a search. Techniques may have changed since then.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/104063870101300212
This is widely employed to sex pet birds that are not sexually dimorphic. Used to be you needed a “blood feather”–one that’s growing so still has a blood supply–for this, the pulling of which not only causes pain but can lead to dangerous blood loss (and which makes the bird pretty damn mad); but now any shed feather’ll do.
We once had a baby cockatiel we were sure was male due to behavior and vocalizations, and we named him Theodore. But he was of a phenotype that indicates sex when the adult feathers come in, and after that molt by all appearances he was a girl. By that time we were so used to calling her Theodore that we kept the name and just changed the pronouns. Many years later when molted-feather sexing came about we sent one in just out of curiosity–and lo & behold, she was a boy after all. (We felt vindicated. 😉 ) So–another stretch of trying to remember the newly correct set of pronouns…We had him for 19 years and he’s still a fondly remembered character tho he died a decade or more ago.
Aww, you got her ready for the big, wide world, Jerry!
Mealworm Helper
Head over to your nearest Chinese restaurant for a nice dinner and maybe you’ll feel better.
[Wonders if Chinese cuisine has recipes for kilo-bags of mealworms. Recipes that they’re willing to admit to.]
Surely not for Peking Duck!
I hope you’ll hear a quacking and Honey will be there, looking for you…
Calls for a Haiku
The silence of fluttering wings in distant flight —
Ripples on the pond.
I sent you some duck food too! It will last in the freezer.
Nature took its course, and Honey was successful disseminating her genes, but I feel for you. 🙁
Honey looks like a Mallard Duck. Maybe, she’ll return in the future with a handsome green-headed partner, and she’ll start a family at your pond. This past spring I’d seen at least a dozen pairs of mating mallard ducks.
There is only one cure for your sadness: get yourself to Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder and order one of their pizza pot pies. Honey thweet!
Dare I add this schlocky link?
What makes it worse is the singer reminds me a little of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Aaaagh, hotel lobby muzak be damned. The Prof has turned to the dark side – next it’ll be Christian rock.
The only part I wanted to emphasize was “Honey, I’ll miss you.” I HATE that song!
The Wild Ducks of Chicago
(with apologies to W.B Yeats)
…..
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in some cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.
But now they drift on some still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?
Very good!
I was always told that a good father gives his children roots and wings. You have done a good job on both, way to go Dad.
My Duck Is Gone would be great title for a blues song.
With apologies to B.B. King…
My duck is gone
My duck is gone away
My duck is gone baby
My duck is gone away
You know you flown the coop baby
And you’ll be back someday
My duck is gone
She’s gone away from me
My duck is gone baby
My duck is gone away from me
Although I’ll still live on
These meal worms’ll never keep
My duck is gone
She’s flown away for good
Oh, my duck is gone baby
Baby she’s flown away for good
Though I know you’ll be with some drake baby
Just like I know a hen should
Excellent, except the first line should have been, “Well, I woke up this mornin’. . . “
This wins the internets.
So long Honey.
I’m curious why the flight feathers drop and regrow. Is it to compensate for wear and tear? Without them I’d think she’d be pretty vulnerable.
Yes. Ducks are especially vulnerable as they molt all their flight feathers at once, rendering them incapable of flight till the new feathers grow in. In most bird species the flight feathers molt a few at a time so that the bird is always airworthy.
April Come She Will
(with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel)
April come she will
When streams are ripe and swelled with rain May she will stay
Resting by my pond again
June she’ll change her tune
On waddling feet she’ll prowl the night
July she will fly
And give no warning to her flight
August away she must
The autumn wind blows cross my pond
September I remember
A duck I knew has now abscond
+1
Meal worms?
Eat them!
My mallard did this today. I raised her from a baby. But I knew she wanted to fly way. I gave her the choice several times and she didn’t. But today was the day of rainy fall October day. It was at the very lake that I found her and she jumped up out of her carrier and looked outside as if to say, “yes I remember this place.” I realize that I gave her a choice to be free and she took it. Which is a whole lot better than being housebound without any other ducks around. And I don’t know if I believe in this imprinting business. On the one hand she followed me around when she was little. But I went back to the lake later and saw her swimming with other ducks. I think she wants to be with her own kind. She will be five months old November 1. I raised her to be very healthy and she was a great flyer. It’s sad thinking I will never see her again. But I go to the lake every day so who knows? I completely understand how you feel. I think with mallards though their instinct is stronger than their bond with a human.
I left a very long response, because my duck did the same thing hopefully it will show up. I believe mallards have such a strong instinct that it overtakes their need to bond with humans. Believe me I know how you feel. I raise mine from a baby and she went from sleeping in the bed with me to flying away. Keep us updated on what happened if you see her💕