The babies are here!!! or somewhere anyway...

UPDATE 4/29/08

So I guess my fear was realized about the duck eggs. I emailed eNaturalist.com to see if they could provide any answers to our recent mysteries regarding the nest. When I went out to check this morning, the lone egg in the post below was gone, and this time the nest was all askew. This was eNaturalist's reply:

I hate to bear the bad news, but I'm quite sure your Mallard's nest was destroyed. I can't be sure what kind of animal it was, but definitely, those eggs did NOT hatch in 12 days!! The list of possible nest-raiders is a long one so it would only be a guess as to what your predator might have been. Although it's natural for predators to take prey, humans have made a lot of changes in our environment that make it harder for some animals, like your duck, to safely raise a family. In most communities, there are lots of skunks, Raccoons, Opossums, dogs, among other creatures that are more numerous than you might expect. It's very likely that your duck will renest but I doubt she'll choose a location near where her first nest was located. Sorry, I know how exciting it can be to have a mother duck hatch her babies within sight. Maybe next year.

John Wiessinger -- April 29, 2008

So sad!!!

The baby ducks have hatched we think . . . so why do I feel so sad and disappointed???

Yesterday we fed the mama (as we do every day now), yet this morning they were gone! I'm still wondering how we missed it. She's only been sitting on them consistently for 12 days, so according to the "duck calendar" we had at least another 12-16 days before they hatched! Guess they went into premature hatching.

I'm hoping they come back - if nothing else for food and to "show off" the brood. If they do, we'll get pictures and post them. Otherwise, until next year maybe. . .


Guess the "daddy ducks" knew something we didn't. They were hanging out in our front yard the past few days.
One lone egg remains in the nest. The other shells are scattered about. I don't know if this egg just hasn't hatched yet or if it's dead.
A view of the shells. We only found 6 or 7 around the nest area, but we also found one all the way up by our deck near the gate.