Today I watched ducklings that had just leapt from their tree top hollow.
It began a month ago with several pairs of Australian Wood Ducks/Maned Ducks calling from the large Mahogany Gums (Eucalyptus botryoides) at my place. These trees have many hollows and I’m often lucky enough to witness the newly hatched ducklings.
This female was very loud. Her call sounds vaguely like a Laughing Kookaburra that is learning to laugh but doesn’t quite get there. I felt as though she was claiming the hollow she preferred.
She was very clear about it as you can see from the effort she is putting into her call along with her body language! Her tongue was showing on her loudest calls.
I particularly like the background bokeh in the three shots above – those beautiful circles of light that add a kind of mystical quality to the images.
As I had been shooting into the morning sun, I tiptoed around to the other side of the tree. The duck was still calling and the photograph has a very different quality.
Over the next few weeks I would often see (and hear) the male and female as they perched on the tree. The female is on the left, she has softer colouring and white stripes on her face.
And finally I saw both parents on the ground along with two tiny ducklings. One of the little ones is obvious in the photograph above, while the second one is harder to spot.
I hid beneath my fabric hide about twenty-five metres from them but I came back inside when I realised the male had seen me. The female is looking up at the hollow and both parents were calling softly to encourage the rest of the ducklings to take the leap of faith and float to the ground.
I hope so much that the Victorian Labor Government ratifies the recommendation of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Recreational Shooting of Native Birds. If you get the chance please send a note to Labor MPs and the Premier asking them to honour the recommendation and to implement a permanent ban.
Happy birding, Kim
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