Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 37
Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds
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| Canadian geese readying for takeoff |
A pair of Canadian Geese
spent the night at the dune lake and were still on site this morning shortly
after dawn. They are an introduced game bird and seem to come in this time of
year with as many as 50 over-nighting at a time; though we haven’t seen those
numbers for a good two years now. They don’t feel secure on the lake during the day
and these two immediately took off at our approach, skimming across the
Wharemauku to graze on the pasture nearby.
Their large size makes
them weigh their flight path prospects carefully, and they lumber into the air,
barely airborne as they cross the track, oftening stalling until its clear of the
human foot traffic.
It was the progress of the
ducklings however, that we had come to review and the news wasn’t good.
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| Abandoned ducklings |
Both broods have reduced
by one, and while one youngster was still with its mother, the remaining pair
had been more or less abandoned- more or less, because while the mother was
still around, her attentions have refocused on the males. Still the ducklings, while largely fending for themselves, were significantly larger and seemed to be
managing ok, especially in weather that increasingly reminds of spring.
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| Mum and mallard - ducklings foreground |
A body of around 8-10 unattached
male mallards have taken over the lake and are in relentless pursuit of the females.
They are testosterone-full and fight for predominance amongst themselves,
while the lack of eligible females means they are focusing attention on those
already separated into pairs, and the females with young. The abandoned ducklings mother has been swayed away from her brood by all this attention, though the single
mum with the single duckling continues to hold out on her own.
This is a
dangerous dynamic for the youngsters to get caught up in and while the males
aren’t attacking them directly, they can get caught up in the web of fighting.
Immediately it breaks out however, they usually head for high ground.
These male
mallards don’t seem to be attacking green headed compatriots already settled with a mate. Presumably they're lower in the mallard ‘pecking’ order and would be quickly sorted out
if they did. The grey headed parera-cross males –all now settled with a mate-
are fair game however, though the females are reluctant suitors and give the
interlopers short shrift. Nevertheless the whole cabal of mallard males should be up on
non-molestation orders. When the harassment gets too insistent the couples take to the air closely
pursued by the spurned male. This morning we saw one mallard chase a
parera-cross pair out over the beach and half way to Kapiti Island,
before breaking off the pursuit. The parera pair then turned back towards
the lake.
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| Parera-cross pair at the dune lake |
There seems to be good
reason therefore, why the ducklings don’t usually come out until September when this argy bargy has settled down somewhat. Though when a second nest gets
under way in December it starts all over again
Track we were listening to
while posting this Fleetwood Mac's – Man of The World - Peter Green's soul sickness - ahhh... those salad days
(sigh).
Shall I tell you about my life
They say I'm a man of the world
I've flown across every tide
And I've seen lots of pretty girls
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