Just some ducks jumping out of a box (SLYT)
August 27, 2019 4:22 PM   Subscribe

Watch 23 one-day old ducks jump out of a box!

Recommend watching at 2x speed for maximum duckiness!
posted by just_ducky (26 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
That is just a lot of little ducks!
posted by readinghippo at 4:25 PM on August 27, 2019 [3 favorites]


First too ticky. Then just ducky. I'm going to have to post something about Sneetches.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:44 PM on August 27, 2019 [7 favorites]


oh my gosh, those are just too many baby ducks!

I would like to know how and why Mamma duck decided that box was the best place to lay her eggs.
posted by suelac at 4:45 PM on August 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


Can you imagine the crowding in that box with 23 little peepers?!?
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 4:51 PM on August 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


I couldn't bring myself to post the more extreme (and frankly horrifying) Arctic Geese Chicks Jump off Cliff to Survive.
posted by just_ducky at 4:52 PM on August 27, 2019 [4 favorites]


This is a viral ad for the search engine "Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck GO!"
posted by srboisvert at 4:58 PM on August 27, 2019 [25 favorites]


I would like to know how and why Mamma duck decided that box was the best place to lay her eggs.

They're wood ducks, they nest in a tree cavity normally. Nest boxes are a common way to provide a suitable manmade nesting habitat to boost the local population. They nest in spots that are close to, but not always over, water. True fact, ducklings bounce when they hit the ground (no ducklings are harmed).

This video is a good one because they have some inside the box footage of how crowded it is in there, plus some of momma duck's behavior calling the ducklings to jump out of the box then hiding them while she waits for the rest to arrive.
posted by peeedro at 5:11 PM on August 27, 2019 [18 favorites]


Fascinating video peeedro! I did not know that wood ducks interbred with mergansers.
posted by leslies at 5:25 PM on August 27, 2019


Every evening I take a walk and during the summer months there's still enough light left after I get done with work for it to be worth traveling out to one of our local trails (whereas in the winter when it's dark and rainy I just put on a book on tape and walk in town.)

Over the course of the summer, on those evenings when my chosen walk is a loop trail around a local lake, I've been following the progress of a brood of merganser chicks who I have often seen foraging at the end of the day in the reeds down at one end of the lake. During the months since I first spotted them the chicks have gone from riding around on their mother's back to swimming in erratic orbits around her (like electrons orbiting some feathery nucleus?) to their first attempts to take flight -- lately they've been getting airborne but not, I would say, very far -- they skim along just above the surface of the lake for 30 to 50 yards or so to test their wings and then paddle back.

Our fall storms seems to be blowing in early this year so I hope they are ready for migration soon..
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:33 PM on August 27, 2019 [4 favorites]


I did not know that wood ducks interbred with mergansers.

They don't interbreed, both wood ducks and mergansers practice brood parasitism, leaving their eggs in another bird's nest for them to raise. So it's pretty common to see mixed clutches of ducklings emerge from nest boxes because they are very conspicuous nesting spots.
posted by peeedro at 5:45 PM on August 27, 2019 [10 favorites]


But...but...how do they get back in?!
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:46 PM on August 27, 2019 [3 favorites]


I was stunned watching that video peeedro posted of the ducklings climbing the wire grid inside the box. I wouldn't have believed that ducks could do that before seeing the video. Amazing.
posted by sardonyx at 5:47 PM on August 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


Then you might like this neat PBS footage of merganser ducklings climbing out from their tree cavity.
posted by peeedro at 5:53 PM on August 27, 2019 [4 favorites]


*heartburst*
posted by Capt. Renault at 5:56 PM on August 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


They don't go back in, they hit the pond and dwell thereupon henceforth.
posted by Pastor of Muppets at 6:40 PM on August 27, 2019 [10 favorites]


The poster of peedro's last video has a page talking about how wood duck nesting works Warning: sad story of what happens to those that don't hatch at the right time.
posted by Mitheral at 6:48 PM on August 27, 2019 [4 favorites]


I couldn't bring myself to post the more extreme (and frankly horrifying) Arctic Geese Chicks Jump off Cliff to Survive.

Holy cow, it's a heck of a video but yeah I'm glad you led with what you led with. Absolute watch-through-slitted-fingers stuff, that one.

And hey, congrats on your first post!
posted by cortex at 6:56 PM on August 27, 2019 [4 favorites]


"Brood parasitism." Oh my.
Nature red in tooth and claw I can deal with. This link was .... disturbing.

Thanks!
posted by kestralwing at 7:04 PM on August 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


Brood amalgamation (créching behavior) is also common for ducks and super adorable, it's essentially duckling daycare.
posted by peeedro at 7:26 PM on August 27, 2019 [3 favorites]


Two years ago we came home to find this duck circling a dead tree on our property. Just waddling around it, over and over. When we approached, it would scamper away, duck-scamper, anyway, but come back soon after. Couldn't figure it out (though I'm sure you can, seeing this post).

Anyway, this is going on for a day or two when a neighbor comes by and notes the hole in the side of the tree. Mama Duck was a wood duck, and had gone up in there to lay eggs -- but dumb mama didn't realize how deep the hollow interior was. Her ducklings had hatched, but couldn't hop high enough to get out.

Don't worry, happy ending on the way. Neighbor asks me for a ladder, climbs up, widens the hole a bit and reaches down inside. Plucks out 13 or 14 ducklings, iirc, setting them on the grass. We take down the ladder, move off, and back comes Mama Duck, rounds them up, and off they waddle about 100 yards to a nearby pond. Saw the several more times on the pond that summer.

We took the tree down after that, though. Too close a call.
posted by martin q blank at 8:24 PM on August 27, 2019 [17 favorites]


"Coming, Mom!"
"Coming, Mom!"
"Coming, Mom!"
"Coming, Mom!"
"Coming, Mom!"
"Coming, Mom!"
"Coming, Mom!"
"Coming, Mom!"
"Coming, Mom!"
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:10 PM on August 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


I’m so fucking calm right now.
posted by mr_roboto at 10:42 PM on August 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


Lots of jump cuts :ducks:
posted by Gyan at 11:22 PM on August 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


I have a small flock of domestic ducks. They are pleasant company, mostly, but the drakes can get rather vicious.
posted by Goofyy at 5:23 AM on August 28, 2019


Who likes the little, little duckies in the pond?
I do, I do, I do,
a-chicka-quack-quack.
posted by Reverend John at 10:55 AM on August 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


That PBS video is WONDERFUL.
posted by natabat at 11:11 AM on August 28, 2019


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