Hey! Remember the blog post a little while ago about my friends Kathie & Gary befriending a wild, deaf duck in their back yard? And they named her Daisy? Well, we all thought that was a great story and there probably wouldn’t be a whole lot more to the story. Ha! Guess what … there’s more to the story.
Turns out that the lady duck, Daisy, isn’t a lady at all … she’s a guy! Things have gotten so complicated these days, haven’t they? I suppose they aren’t at all complicated to the animals, to the birds and the bees and the ducks, but sometimes we humans get way too wrapped up in how things are supposed to be, don’t we?
So, for the backstory, here’s THE LINK to that blog post a few months ago.
But now, for the news of today … ladies and gentlemen … heeeeeeeere’s Kathie!
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You would think that being a docent at the Woodland Park Zoo for over 22 years would make me an expert in differentiating a female duck from a male duck, wouldn’t you? I sure thought so. But Mother Nature threw me a curve ball and I want to update you on my story of Daisy, the Deaf Duck.
Back in August “Daisy” first came up on our lawn, unable to quack and appeared to be in distress. You’ll recall how she quickly showed us that she wasn’t in distress, just really hungry, a bit lonesome, and definitely unable to hear. A mixture of black-oiled sunflower seeds, wild bird seed mix, old-fashioned oats, and occasional cut up grapes became a twice-a-day repast for our new friend.
But we noticed in mid-September increasing numbers of dropped feathers around the yard and also a gradual change in color on both her back and neck.
Then, a distinct white ring around her neck appeared and her breast feathers quickly turned from beige to dark brown. The sudden change of her beak from green to yellow was followed by a stunning crop of gorgeous green feathers overtaking her head. Whoa…what’s happening?
Well, it’s called eclipse plumage when male ducks (drakes) lose their bright-colored plumage after mating and they molt their old feathers. They become flightless, very reclusive, and resemble females (hens).
No wonder we thought we had a female visiting us! But it turns out that Daisy is a natural born dude, and by the looks of things he is developing into a right handsome fellow.
So we have renamed him “Duke” and it appears that he has already attracted the attention of a young female who accompanies him to our lawn. We have set his lady’s treats on a rock nearby as Duke seems to be quite possessive of his own crockery!
We are looking forward to following Duke and his lady to see if they decide to pair up for the winter.
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From the look of Kathie’s last photo above, I’d hazard a guess that these two fine feathered friends are now a permanent item! Maybe we’ll see some wee ones this coming spring.
Thanks Kathie! I didn’t know a thing about “eclipse plumage”, but now I do. I love to learn stuff like that. For you blog readers here who want even more information, check out this webpage … https://birdnationblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/eclipse-plumage/.
The wonders of the world never stop, do they? I’m sure looking forward to more adventures of the Duke (and the Lady). This on-going story is a feather in your cap, Kathie. Thank you. 🙂
Delightful! Tell Gary and Kathie I said hi.
I’d bet Kathie has seen your comment, Kristin … but right here and now I’ll tell them hi from you and Russ. 🙂
Whoop! I love it. Thanks Kathie!
Isn’t this great? I love it too, Cindy. Here’s to Kathie and her care-full and watchful eye and heart.
Who knows who is who these days, and who cares. Let’s just be friends. What a great story Kathie (and Ann). I never heard of eclipse plumage either, it’s fascinating. Fun blog Ann with lots of different subjects and ideas on it, thank you.
I’m with you Joe, I don’t really care how people (or ducks) define themselves or how they look, we’re all in this together. 🙂 Thanks for your comment.
What fun. Here’s to all ducks whatever the color of their feathers! 🙂
Amen! 🙂
I thought this was a joke at first, but I looked online and it isn’t, this really happens! I have a whole mess of ducks where I live and every year the males disappear, or so I thought, until now. Ha, how cool. Yep, the wonders of the world never stop. 🙂
Nope, no joke, Jamie, although sometimes I do joke around here on the blog don’t I. I’ve heard of other mammals who are deaf, or blind, or have other physical issues … humans do too since we are mammals too. I sured learned from Kathie’s story. Male ducks (drakes) don’t really disappear … they just appear to disappear … as they change their plumage. Yep, pretty cool. 🙂
Friends of mine have a deaf daughter who goes to high school I think in Tacoma, WA. She’s an amazing swimmer and enters and wins all sorts of competitions. She calls herself the Deaf Duck … ducks swim, right? 🙂 I shared your blog with those folks and the girl loved it, she really loved it.
Rob, I just googled the young woman and found her. She is indeed a high school student in Tacoma, WA, and she’s a super swimmer. Maybe one day she’ll be in the Olympics. Let’s keep our eyes peeled for a world-class swimmer who calls herself the Deaf Duck. I’d bet Duke and his Lady will cheer this young lass on to victory, as will we all. 🙂