My Muscovy Ducks Tale

Certified Wildlife Habitat! My Yard!!!

2012-01-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

How freakin COOL is this??? Sooo proud!

Blue Jay

2011-12-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

When I got to the gym this morning, this little guy was in the shrub in front of my usual parking space. Of course when I pulled in, further into the shrub he went. I don't know if you can see him...I tried to outline him.

December 1st Revisited~

2011-12-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

I didn't have the heart to update the post about Porsche being "on the nest". Raccoons! Ugh! No new babies here. :(

In other news; December 1st. I am reminded of my first December post:

http://mymuscovyduckstale.blogspot.com/2009/12/d-day-operation-december-duck.html

Oh how I wanted to ducks to fly and be free, and get my lawn back. I have regretted it ever since. Live and learn.

December 1st will always be a little sad for me. Oh well, I will go out and feed Porsche and Ellen (and the boys), maybe that will boost my spirits! After all, Merry Merry! :)

Porsche's On The Nest!!!

2011-08-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Well, bad foot or not, Porsche has been playing with boys and she's out back sitting on eggs! When I went to take this shot, she got very angry and started after me! Peeping and flapping her wings!

Mama Elsa lives on!!! Funnily enough, she built her nest in the exact same spot where Elsa did....

It's a really safe spot, having the pool wall on one side. Too bad its not the side that faces east - better hurrican coverage. Irene hits today! Eeek! O_o

Porsche's Home!

2011-07-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

Good news! She's out of the hospital!

It was so busy at the Wildlife Center, I didn't think to take a picture when they first handed her to me.

I drove home with the A/C off, and was a wet dripping mess by the time we got here. I swear that duck pooped the entire trip in the car. How many ducks get to go for a ride in the car?? Scared shitless comes to mind! :)

I took her out back and her sister was sitting under the patio table. When I opened the cage to let her out, Ellen attacked her! It was AWFUL! I picked Ellen up and tossed her over the fence. Porsche hobbled into the yard and flew away. She was out of sight for about 3 hours.

She's still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the canal, but I did finally get some pictures of her. She's free.

She's in God's hands now. The Humans have done all they can.

Good News!

2011-07-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

I just got a call from the Wildlife Center and Porsche is able to come home tomorrow. YAY!

There was a smidge of bad news - she is going to have a permanent limp. :(

I will get some pics of her tomorrow from the habitat and coming home.

Overall, good news!

Funny!!!!!

2011-07-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

Does anything else need to be said here? :)

Porsche The Duck

2011-07-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we came home from dinner and one of our girls was out back and had a very badly hurt left foot. I tried to make her a nest and put her in there - No go. She sat out back for 3 days. She didn't get any better.

I called the Wildlife Care Center and they sent the ambulance and picked her up. She's been there a week today. She has a multiple fractured foot. She is on pain meds and antibiotics. Foot in a cast, resting on snuggly towels in her cage out in the pond hospital.

Believe it or not, I don't have a picture of her....one I can find anyway. I'll go and see her next week, so I'll get one then.

The good news is she is on the mend. I am sure she's isn't too happy being in captivity, but she is getting the care she needs. Once she is healed, I will go and get her and bring her back here. More then!

UPDATE: 7/22: Porsche is still in the hospital but the cast is off the foot. There is still quite a bit of heat in the foot, so she is still on pain meds and antibiotics. She's safe and on the mend. That's the main thing. More soon!

The Camels Are Real

2011-05-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Ok SM - you nay-sayer....

When you saw this post you said these weren't camels at all!

AHA! They were/are camels!

And yes, I was this close.

Take that! :)

What a dorkus I am! O_o

2011-04-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

So my subdivision...it has several small lakes. There is one on the way in (or out - :) that you must pass coming or going.

This weekend, I was coming home & noted two all white ducks on the lake. I thought HOLY COW! Spentie and Angel! I pulled the car over and sat there and stared....something wasn't quite right about them. They weren't moving.

They were decoys.....*red face*

Christmas Camels

2011-01-28T11:07:00.000-08:00

I live in a subdivision that is very "horsey". It's a darling towne filled with skads of horse farms. Across the street from my subdivision is a farm that has hay rides! The Engineer is not one to do such a thing, and I don't have any friends here, so I've not done it. I have however, seen camels in their barnyard every Decemember. I "think" they are used in the amazing Christmas pagent held downtown every year.

This is an awful photo. I tried to zoom in, but its still blurry. I have pointed out the 3 camels. They look more like bales of hay, but honestly, they're camels.

Christmas Swan

2010-12-16T11:42:00.000-08:00

My sister and I were out back this morning unwrapping Chrissie the Christmas Tree - out of the blue, we saw an amazing beautiful swan. These photos do not do it justice nor does it capture the size of this beauty. Alone and tranquil this moment took our breath away. I really don't have any words to express this event. It is by far the most amazing thing I have seen on the canal to date. A blessing.........that about sums it up.....

A Little Over A Year Ago......

2010-12-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

....Was Operation December Duck. Man, where did that year go???

I still have a few of the girls (5 of them), that are here in my sub-division. Two are here almost daily. Portia and Ellen. (I think they are a "couple" - and Ellen has tried to have her way with me in the pool...).

I still look for my flock every time I drive in and out. In fact, I saw a mostly white duck the other nite on the way to dinner, but I couldn't stop - had The Rents in the car.

I have also had the Black Bellied Whistling Ducks here in September. I took a bunch of pictures of them, but I have them on here already. The Beaks came back in the fall. No iguanas of any consequence since last year's freeze. We have had quite a few ducklings on the lake side, but nothing too exciting over here.

Maybe when the spring comes, I will have more news. It's been a quiet few months.

Merry Merry! Quack, Quack where ever you are my flock...... I think about you and miss you every day.

MDM

Duck Sighting???

2010-09-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

Ok so, being the tremendous dork that I am, everytime I leave my house and pass a body of water, I look for my ducks.

My trip out to the gym late this morning was no exception. Off to my left was a canal, and low and behold, there was the duck I thought was Spentie (with the plume changes). I grabbed my shoes from my gym bag and dashed off down the bank. (I couldn't help thinking "damn - I hope there's no gators or snakes down here".

I got close and, and......It wasn't Spentie. This was a female, complete with 4 babies. :)

Oh well. The hunt continues!

In Memoriam - Fillie and Millie's Fishies

2010-08-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

My In-laws have a lovely backyard, that includes a pond with baby Koi fish. Like my duck, they even had a fish named Angel.

I just got an email from Millie - they found a fish head in their back yard and on further inspection of the pond, not one of their fishies were left. A blasted Heron ate every single one. :(

This is the only shot of the pond that I have from my trip to Canada this summer. I tried to crop as much of myself out of the photo as possible. Love that someone took a photo of me with my fat arse bent over the pond. Thanks to whoever did that! Anyway, pardon my big head and odd hand gesture.

Parrots or Parakeets?

2010-08-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Today I got up and went to the gym. I just couldn't get into it.
I needed coffee.

I stopped at McDonald's and got a large java, went home, parked the car and took a walk. I sat at the neighborhood park and enoyed my caffeine, and the peace of the morning before my day starts to unravel. O_o

A flock of approx. 16 (what I thought were parrots) landed on the grass in front of me. They may have been Monk Parakeets, but since I didn't have a camera, I don't have an orig photo. I'm really not sure what they were.

In any event, a woman came lumbering down the path and they took off like a shot. The photo here is of a Monk Parakeet. It's not what I saw...these birds were all green with blue tipped wings. I found so many parrots and parakeets with this coloring, who knows what they were.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia!

AGT & A Froggie!

2010-07-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

America's Got Talent nite, The Engineer and I were having our usual fun. Popcorn, wine and fun TV. This week, we had a viewing companion. There he was hanging on the back patio door. So darn cute. I think he would've beat out that old gal with the red hair and Groucho Marx eyebrows that sang Kansas City.

O_o

How blasted cute is he??

Just When I Thought Nothing Was Going On....

2010-07-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

On the way home from the gym today I thought to myself that nothin's going on out back right now. I haven't seen the huge flock of ducklings, nada! Well, I haven't really been out much - it's been rainy. But this morning, I went out to water the flowers, and down by the canal fence was a sizeable snapping turtle! I've seen him in the water, but this is the first time I've seen him in the yard.

Then I turned around, and there's a huge toad. I thought maybe it was dead, so I touched it with my toe and he hopped away.

And me with no camera. Oh well. Happy Monday.

Bro's Cooper's Hawk Update!

2010-07-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

From Brother: I have good news! I called Renee at S.W.C.C yesterday when I got off work to check up on him. His blood work came back good (No poison, that was one of my main concerns) He has been moved to the flight pen, and is going to be kept for observation for two more days then released where I found him! They think he may have succumbed to the heat, multiplied by his malnourished state. (It has been quite hot here for the last week) It is apparently common for male hawks to hunt themselves very thin when the pair has young that need to be fed. The males pass off most of what they capture to the female who in turn feeds the babies and herself. He tends to go hungry in an effort to care for his family. I just hope she isn't mad at him when he returns, she is quite larger and heavier.

My Amazing Brother and a Cooper's Hawk

2010-07-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

From my brother:

Dear Sis, I know of your love of birds so I must relay this story to you. As you know I am a huge reptile guy which in turn makes me interested in birds considering the relationship between the two, especially Raptors! We have a resident population of Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter Cooperii) in this area and being we have tons of old growth trees in our neighborhood it is a perfect hunting ground for them (They feed largely on other birds, Sparrows, Wrens, Starlings, Robins, Etc....) We have been watching a breeding pair hunt in the trees around our house for the last few months and have been very excited to watch their incredible maneuverability and prowess as aerial hunters!
They are phenomenal!

Last night I walked out the front door to go to the store and saw the male, the smaller of the two in a dead spiral towards the ground and I hollered out to Sherri "Honey, hurry the male hawk has caught something mid-air" It turned out that he was in fact injured by something and landed in the middle of the street, unable to get off the ground, by what, I have no Idea. I ran over to him and he just looked at me and started to scream at me in fear. I carefully picked him up confining his wings, talons and avoiding his beak and carried him to the house. We lined a box with an old towel and sealed him inside and punched air holes in all four sides for him to breath (He was not happy, but did not attempt to bite me, much to my surprise) I immediately called the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center who turned out to be closed, but their mail box said "put the injured wild animal in a cardboard box, do not attempt to feed it or give it water and get it to us a.s.a.p.!!!!!!"

First thing this morning I drove him out there and the wonderful volunteer (Renee) said it appears to have an injury to his shoulder and they would treat him for two weeks to see if they can save him. I will keep you posted as to his progress/developments. Meanwhile his mate perches in the trees around our house calling out for him and it is very heartbreaking to listen to. Some birds are monogamous and mate for life, I don't know if Cooper's Hawks are one of them but it is quite obvious that she wants him to come home, I can hear her calling out to him as I write this e-mail and I feel so bad! Maybe they can heal him and they can be reunited soon? I certainly hope so! I will keep you posted!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Cooper's Hawk

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

Drunk Duck???

2010-07-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

So..... anyone that has followed this blog must realize that I don't have much of a life. As a caregiver for two very senior parents, I don't get out much.

I have one thing that keeps me sane. My pool. It's a very small pool. The construction company that built the house "misplaced" the locale of my home, so my pool is 2 feet too narrow. To be honest, who cares? I am really the only one that uses it.

IT'S MY POOL! :)

Being that I live in a state soaked in heat and humidity, somedays it's just too much to swim during the day. I only do it on the weekends so Mom can get some excercise. It's about all she can do.

After I put my folks to bed, out to the pool I go. I take my CD player, crank some tunes, and unwind. Oftentimes, wine is involved. (Who am I kidding! It's almost always involved)! If you lived here, you too would have Cabarnet as a middle name. :(

Again, I have to say, these ducks are hilarious! I have lost my point of reference so just go with it, would ya'?

Canadian Beagles, Eh?

2010-07-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

During our trip, we headed north of Toronto to see The Engineer's brother, The Teacher. (and his wife, also a teacher). I call them "The Peas" as they are two peas in a pod. Soooo different from The Engineer and I, who are two grapefruits in a paper bag. :)

Saturday night, they had some of their neighbors over....& two of them stayed for dinner. A lovely couple. The gent is a riot! I shant tell you the stories he told. They are not rated PG! J. breeds Chesterfield Beagles. We went by his house on our way out of town for his nickel tour (seriously, we all gave him a nickel!) of his unbelievable gardens and his dogs.

He has 11 at the moment. Cutie pies.....

Canada Geese, Eh?

2010-07-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

I recently went to Canada to see The Engineer's family. On Canada Day, we went to one of his friend's homes on Lake St. Claire. We refer to it as "The Mansion". It's AMAZING as are the people that own the house. (Canadian's in general seem to be pretty groovy. So friendly, eh?)

We pull up, and right before my eyes is a flock of Canadian Geese. This is the closest I have been to a CG, sans the wooden one on my piano. They're freaking HUGE! I will say, they are not as friendly as Muscovy Ducks! ;)

Anyway, here they are. Cool!

Note the poo. Uhm, yeah, they poop

WAAAAAAAAAAAAY more than ducks. Ick.

I'm A Gramma!!!!

2010-06-15T05:39:00.000-07:00

One of the Runtie Jr's had babies.

Need I say anything else but ducca ducca???

My little Miss Runtie lives on!

Duck Drive-Thru 2010 - Hilarious!

2010-06-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

Some of you may recall the Duck Drive Thru of 2009, noted here: Duck Drive Thru 2009

I thought that was hysterical.......

Today - I went out to get the paper and low and behold, there were two of the Radio Flyers from the Duck Drive Thru last year, up on the roof pulling the same stunt.

I have been snickering all morning. You can't tell me these ducks aren't funny? They are a hoot!

Right outside my office window!

They found me! :)