Daisy had a relatively quiet day on Monday, the 20th, in Australia.
The wind broke a small branch loose that had some leaves on it and it fell right by Daisy’s nest! Seriously, this is one lucky duck.
By mid-morning the sun was making Daisy hot. In the image below she is panting to thermoregulate her temperature.
The camera operator checked to see if the Sea Eagles were at the River Roost. They were not.
Daisy spends some of her time removing more down and tucking it in.
Everything was pretty quiet until 15:55 when Daisy froze. I could hear the Ravens but they went quiet. They had to be sitting on the tree branches out of view of the camera. Daisy stayed in the same position until 16:03:30 when she relaxed.
Daisy kept her head down but she was looking and listening.
Every once in awhile the Ravens would make intimidating sounds.
Daisy relaxed and then she froze again at 16:13:10.
She has relaxed.
Daisy worked on the down, twigs, and leaves and bits and bobs to cover the nest for more than three minutes before she felt certain her precious eggs were covered well enough to leave.
Daisy did not leave as early as she did yesterday. She flew off at 17:34:21. It is still light and you can still hear some birds in the forest. She is counting on the Ravens not returning. It is two and a half hours until sunset at 20:04.
It is nearing 01:00 on the Canadian Prairies and I am going to take a leap of faith that Daisy will get home and her eggs will be in tact and toasty warm under the down, the heat of the nest, and the rays of the sun.
Thank you for joining me. It is wonderful that so many people care for this wee duck who has laid her eggs in this enormous nest in the forest. Take care everyone. See you soon. — Look for my next posting mid-afternoon on the Canadian Prairies tomorrow.
Thank you to the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park streaming cam where I took my screen shots.
After having a busy morning with visitors – the Ring-tailed Possum, the Rainbow Lorikeets, the Noisy Miners, the Pied Currawong, and the Ravens – our beautiful little Pacific Black Duck Daisy had a very uneventful day. What a blessing that is – a calm, no drama day. If we could link the next 17 or 18 days together into boring bliss for Daisy, she just might beat the odds.
The forecast for thunderstorms and a drop in temperature changed periodically. The sky got dark and Daisy decided to leave the nest for her evening foraging 20 minutes earlier than last evening. She flew off at 17:51:55.
Daisy tucked and folded the down over the eggs while using her bill to scrape up leaves and nest material around the edges.
The sky turned dark. It is difficult to tell if there is any light rain falling. Despite the forecast for thunderstorms no thunder can be heard. At least not yet. The storms are supposed to last until 22:00.
My only concern is if all that beautiful fluffy down were to get wet. It would mat and shrink. Would Daisy have enough down to replenish it? so that it would completely cover those eggs like it is now?
Sadly, the male ducks do not provide security when the female is away like Canadian Geese. While the male CG do not help incubate the eggs, they do provide security and certainly help with the goslings after they hatch. Daisy has absolutely no help with either. With all the odds against her, she is really managing well this clutch. Each day I am becoming more cautiously optimistic.
Daisy returns from her evening break at 20:18:35. She spends some time on the rim of the nest drying her feathers.
It appears that the weather that was forecast did not do anything to damage Daisy’s down. Yahoo.
Just look at Daisy in all that down! It shows up so much better with the IR camera.
It is 04:42 nest time. The main camera went out just after the last image above.
This is the view from the Twitch camera. There is no sound and I cannot find any rewind mechanism. As you can see, we cannot tell if Daisy is in the nest or not.
I will catch up with Daisy as soon as the main camera comes back on line. Thank you for so much for joining me as we begin Day 17 for our favourite duck!
Thank you to the Sea Eagles@ Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park for their streaming cam and Twitch Streaming Cam where I took my screen captures.
It is 15:00 in the Sydney Olympic Forest. You can hear the old Ironbark Tree creaking as the 23 kph winds twist the branches about. It sounds like old doors that need to be oiled. The gusts seem to be more. Daisy seems undaunted. I cannot hear any bird vocalizations in the forest.
The camera operator checked to see if the Sea Eagles were at the River Roost. There was one bird – WBSE or Gull? – flying over the Parramatta River. It is that white dot against the far dark trees up at the top – almost in the middle of the background.
I continue to keep in my mind that last year we kept saying, ‘If Daisy had only come in late November or December.’ Gosh, we surely got that wish this year. But, this year feels like a ‘cake walk’ compared to last year. (Still I do not want to get complacent – anything can happen!) I don’t think anyone slept while Daisy was on the nest. We did not know how the Sea Eagles would react – we didn’t know when they would be coming to try and catch Daisy. You could almost see the steam coming off the top of Dad’s head last year trying to ‘catch’ whatever bird was brave or stupid enough to lay their eggs in ‘his’ nest. I am posting one of my blogs from last year. Every moment was tense. In the image below, Dad has landed on the nest. You can see that Daisy had no time to cover her eggs!
Daisy had only a split second to get off the nest and no time to conceal her eggs.
People from around the world were cheering this brave duck. There is another difference this year also. The temperatures. It is 23 degrees C today. Last time Daisy had eggs on this nest, it rose to 40 degrees C. The sun was so hot she had to leave frequently for breaks and she often left in the middle of the afternoon. That is how the Ravens got the eggs. This time it appears it is after sunset and before sunrise that could at least hold off the Ravens. Maybe there is a ‘finishing school’ for future duck mothers???
The weather forecast has now posted a 40% chance of a shower – not rain – with the winds gusting to 30 kph. Here is a very short video clip of our little Daisy – gosh, she looks tiny in that big tree – as it is swaying with the gusts.
I am not expecting anything to happen – famous last words – until Daisy leaves for her evening break. Sunset is at 20:03.
Daisy surprised me and left at 17:22:30 for her evening foraging. This was two and a half hours before sunset! This is unusual compared to her pattern. She did spend considerable time covering up her eggs and she appeared to be looking for more leaves.
Off she goes! That blur of feathers under the branch on the right.
I had convinced myself that I could fall asleep and wake up and check that Daisy had returned and the eggs and her were both alright. The problem was she left too early. Who would come to get those eggs? Would the ravens be around on a quick fly through before roosting? Normally Daisy departs for her break right at sunset. So I waited with a pot of spiced tea, a box of shortbread, and Mark Bittman’s recipe for No-Knead Bread from TheNew York Times. Our forecast was for thin layers of freezing rain – the kind that covers everything but you can’t see it. Black Ice. And then snow as the temperature plunges from -1 to -14. Daisy is enjoying cooler temperatures than her incubation time last year. It was 19 C during the evening and early morning hours.
Daisy did return and no one bothered the nest. She was a very lucky little duck. She landed back on the nest at 19:43:23 ——- 20 minutes before sunset.
Oh, I hope we get some close ups today. Just look at the down – it must feel good compared to those hard sticks.
Doesn’t she look adorable?
It is 04:16:00 and Daisy has not left for her morning break. She fooled me yesterday by slipping out for a quick foraging trip at 04:46. I wonder if she will do that today?
Daisy flew off the nest at 05:09:04. She spent considerable time before leaving covering up her eggs.
And she is off! Daisy is a Dabbler. I hope that she finds lots of yummy plants to enjoy.
In the background you could hear the Noisy Miners and Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo easily over the hum of the camera. The forest is waking up just as Daisy is leaving. They are particularly loud this morning. I wonder if they alerted her that she should get going?
The cam operator gave us some beautiful shots of Daisy’s nest covering. Thank you!
Sunrise is at 05:39. Yesterday Daisy was back on the nest a little after 06:00. Fingers crossed.
It is Day 15 of the Daisy Chronicles and so far all is well.
Thank you so much for joining me. I will bring an update on Daisy in about six or seven hours. Let us hope that today is as uneventful as all the others. Please take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the Sea Eagle @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.
