Tag Archives: Black Pacific Ducks mate for life

The Daisy Chronicles, Day 12-13

The Sydney Olympic Forest is quiet. The wind is rocking Daisy and her eggs as she gets some sleep in the quiet of the afternoon. By the time she leaves her nest for her break to eat and go to the bathroom, she will have been on the nest for almost a solid 22 hours. Without a break. Not one. I think the possum frightened Daisy this morning right when she should have left for foraging. I hope that it doesn’t happen again.

By normal calculations this is day 6 of hard incubation. Duck eggs take from 26-30 days. This means Daisy has three more weeks to thwart all that would wish to eat those eggs or get her off their nest. Those bookmakers that take bets on almost anything probably have the odds flat against our little duck. I don’t want to get my hopes up – it is true that everything seems like it is against her but, just in case, I think I am going to dream up something nice to have on hand ‘just in case’. As I said in my earlier blog, seeing Daisy and her ducklings leap off that nest would really start 2022 off right.

I am very anxious for Daisy today. It is all because she did not go off the nest to forage before sunrise. It is now 16:21 and she has three and a half hours until sunset. I think that she would be safe to leave a wee bit before then. I notice that the birds in our garden have left the lilac bushes and feeders about an hour to an hour and a half before sunset each day. Maybe the Ravens do that as well?

Every time Daisy starts gathering leaves or moving about as she did about ten minutes ago, I think she is going to leave. The Ravens are smart. They haven’t come on the nest after Daisy fearlessly protected her eggs but they have been around several times to check to see if she is there. They know those eggs are in that nest and they would not hesitate if our little duck was away.

The light changes on the nest continually. Half an hour ago Daisy was hidden in the shadow of the branches and now she is fully illuminated. It is now three hours until sunset. This feels like the slowest day of the week.

This is the forecast for the Sydney Olympic Park for tomorrow and Thursday.

Daisy waited as long as she could waiting til the sounds of the forest told her the others were roosting. She flew off at 19:10. She returned at 20:42:42 so she was off the eggs for about an hour and a half.

I love this view of Daisy and the nest tree. There she is ready to take off.

Off our darling Daisy goes to a well earned meal and break!

Daisy returned refreshed and hopefully a little full.

Daisy did not leave the nest for a morning break on Day 12 but she prepares her nest and flies off at 02:23:38. I am so glad that Daisy has taken this break. The forecast for rain still stands and Daisy will be on the down so that it does not get wet.

Today the weather will be moving from the 16 degrees C to 29 degrees C right before the rains are expected at 17:00. The morning light is starting to filter through the forest and sunrise is at 05:39. Daisy has not returned from her break. She has been away for three hours.

As the birds start to wake up in the forest I am starting to wish that Daisy would hurry back to the nest.

Daisy arrived back at the nest right around 05:59:28. She was followed by a Noisy Miner. Not taking any chances, Daisy went up to the parent branch until it left.

Once the Noisy Miner leaves, Daisy carefully walks over to the egg cup and starts incubating those precious 8 eggs.

Gosh, Daisy just looks so tiny.

Whew. Daisy is still a little wet. You can see the feathers on the top of her head. I hope that the time she spent foraging and paddling in the water will energize our beautiful little duck. No one knows what the day will bring but fingers crossed that it is as uneventful as yesterday. Keep sending your best wishes to her. Just because it is quiet does not mean that something horrific could happen any moment. She needs all the positive energy she can get.

I will monitor Daisy during the day and send an update this evening. All eyes are on the Northeast Bald Eagle Nest of Gabby and Samson. In fact, while I have been waiting for Daisy, Gabby might have laid her first egg. She has not left the nest for a long time. Take care everyone. Thank you so much for stopping by to check on this marvellous Pacific Black Duck, Daisy.

Thank you to the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures.

So far, all is well in the old Ironbark Tree, updated

It is Day 12 of Daisy’s brooding. Thank you for joining on this magical journey of the little duck who, instead of making her nest near the water, chose the great big nest of the White-Bellied Sea Eagle.

To 12 dzień lęgów Daisy. Dziękuję za udział w tej magicznej podróży małej kaczuszki, która zamiast założyć gniazdo nad wodą, wybrała wielkie, duże gniazdo orła bielika.

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It has been a very quiet and rather hot day for Daisy, the Black Pacific Duck whose nest is in the old Ironbark Tree in the Sydney Olympic Park. Thus far, the only visitors of any note today were the chattering Rainbow Lorikeets who came around 8am.

A friendly Rainbow Lorkeet curious about the little duck in the big sea eagle nest.

Yesterday, I mentioned that Daisy is in a category of ducks known as ‘dabbling’ ducks. The information that I had, at that time, was that they foraged along the shores of the rivers and lakes. This did not support pictures I have seen of them in the water hunting for food. So I looked for more information. One small informative page for children said that they mainly dabble at night. Photographs show them foraging during the day. And we know from Daisy’s behaviour that she goes out normally mid afternoon to feed. But we also know from our observations of Daisy that she can see well enough in the dark to come and go from the nest. That same bulletin stressed that the duck plunges its head and neck under the water, raising its rear end vertical to the surface. That is why one of the people working as a moderator for the Sea Eagle cameras said that when she saw the Black Pacific Ducks in the canal, all she could see was their back end. Now it all makes more sense. They also feed in grassy areas.

This is a domestic duck dabbling. I am using it as an example to show you what Daisy would look like if she were in the water foraging for food. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Like Raptors, Pacific black ducks are monogamous. Males and females will stay together having only one partner until one of them dies. Their courtship consists of preening one another, flapping their wings, and bobbing their heads. While most Pacific black ducks build their nests near a source of water, we have learned from observing Daisy the Duck that she did not do that. So it is not always the case. Indeed, you might remember that a woman from Poland wrote to me about a duck making her nest also in an eagle’s nest. Those ducklings survived. The female lays from 8 to 123 eggs. If we look closely at Daisy’s eggs, they are white. Daisy will incubate the eggs from 26 to 30 days. That is two days shorter than the information I have previously posted. We know that they are precocial, able to feed themselves at birth. What I have not mentioned is that they will be fully independent of Daisy in 48-58 days after hatch. Daisy’s ducklings will be ready to find their own mate and breed when they are one year old.

One of the most beautiful parts of Daisy’s plumage is the speculum. It is a beautiful iridescent green. You can see it in the image above with Daisy and the Rainbow Lorikeet and in the image below. Depending on the light, the emerald green speculum sometimes appears blue or purple.

You can see Daisy’s green speculum clearly in this image.

And did you know that Daisy does not have any teeth? She has tiny serrations located along the inside of their bill that helps them filter out their food from the water. Daisy’s ability to sort out her dinner from the river water means that these serrations work kind of like a colander or a strainer!

It is 14:57 and Daisy has just left the nest to forage. I noticed two things about her departure just now. First, she covered her nest with the down folding it over like she has on other days but she did not spend as much time arranging leaves and plant material over the top of the nest. She also flew out a different direction to some days. Often she goes to the right but if she leaves from the left side of the nest, as she did today, she will be closer to the water. She must be very hot and hungry. She returned from her foraging last evening at 19:07 and has not left the nest since.

Daisy is preparing to fly off the nest on the left hand side today. She might be very hot. She has waited a long time for a break. Leaving from the left is the closest to the water.

I don’t quite understand why Daisy left and did not cover the down over the eggs with plant material, leaves, and twigs this afternoon. I wonder if it is because of the intense heat? She is always very meticulous about concealing the eggs well so predators cannot see them. And the wind is blowing. She was not scared from the nest. So, what do we think: was it the heat and the sun? she did not want the eggs cooked in the heat of the Australian summer?

Perhaps the nest is not covered so much and so packed down because of the intense heat in the forest today. 33 degrees C.

It has been a hot day and the forest has been relatively quiet. Daisy was incubating her eggs for twenty hours straight before taking her break. The weather report for tomorrow says that it will be even hotter, 36 degrees in Sydney.

A quick update: The White Bellied Sea Eagle called ‘Dad’ fly onto a branch of the nest tree at 16:59:24. He did a little preening. Never went down to the nest. Thank goodness as the wind had blown the down open and eggs could be seen. He departed at 17:03:43. I am so very glad that Daisy was not there or flying in. It does seem that this time of evening is the typical time he arrives. Well, he is gone now. Back to find some cool breezes off the water of the Parramatta River.

WBSE ‘Dad’ trying to catch the intruder in his nest. No luck today, Dad! Sorry.

Please join us again tomorrow as we follow the life of this little Black Pacific Duck.

Thank you to the Sea Eagle Cam, Birdlife Australia and the Discovery Center for their camera from which these scaps came.