Babies Down Under…by Brad Marks

Getting this post in just under the wire. I had intentions of publishing this last post of the month out a few days ago (to hit our monthly post quota), but we have been moving northeastward up the gulf coast and time slipped away. Truth is, I am a bit exhausted which is an odd thing to declare when you are technically on vacation – and retired. We’ve been on the road for over a month now and it has consisted of some high points and low points. On the plus side we are not in Illinois, there has been SOME warm days, we’ve been able to meet up with birding friends down here along with friends who came down from our hometown and even Ron was able to joined us for a few days. We’ve also found a few new feathered lifers and taken in some new sites. Unfortunately, the weather has been frustratingly “chilly” down here and the birding has been a disappointment due to a universal lack of real rarities to chase. Add into the mixture my ankle is not progressing at a pace anywhere near what I need/expect it to be, The Beast is acting up (likely sand in the WAV motor again) and did I mention I’m currently wearing a stocking cap and staring wantingly at my gloves. Yes, this born and raised in the Midwest tundra lad has grown soft ha! I just need a brief rest and I’ll be recharged (not to mention it is going to start warming up this week). In spite of the weather gods trying their mightiest to defeat me, I am still sitting at 220 birds for the year (21st on Texas top 100) and tins full of new material to hopefully keep everyone entertained this year. Add in Brad and Jan’s adventures and we are in really good shape. Speaking of Brad and Jan, they threw me a lifeline taking over the controls of the Intrigued enterprise to bring you another adventure from “Down Under”.

Take it away (temporary) Kiwis….

On a recent photo assignment, Jan and I were staying in a very nice hotel in the middle of Christchurch, New Zealand.  The view from our spacious and well-appointed hotel room looked out at the Christchurch Cathedral.  Well, at least what’s left of it after severe earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.  Much of what’s left is being supported by a web of giant steel beams.  The spire and upper tower were destroyed during the multitude of 2011 earthquakes (between 6.0 and 6.4-magnitude) and have been partially rebuilt on the ground since then, ready for reinstallation.  Restoration is difficult because many of the skills required to rebuild a stone structure have been lost over the decades.  The Cathedral is still competing for resources (money and people) with hundreds of other rebuilding projects in Christchurch since the devastating earthquakes.  New Zealand is a country of five million people.  The cost to rebuild the city of Christchurch alone is estimated to be near $40 billion New Zealand dollars.  That is a very large burden, whether in New Zealand or U.S. dollars, for a national population of only five million.  You can do the math to see that this might take a while. 

This story is a late entry to extend December’s Baby Month at Intrigued.  Literally, as soon as I had copied the photos from the Australia and New Zealand assignment onto our home PC, it failed.  Thanks to holidays, and weather delays, the replacement PC didn’t arrive until mid-December.  Getting the new PC up and running again with all of the Intrigued Corporate applications, plus a few hardware surprises, took another two weeks.  And here we are.

During one of our free days on assignment, Jan and I walked about a kilometer (a little over half of a mile) from our hotel in Christchurch to Hagley Park South to see what we could see.  Why am I am being very specific on the name of the park?  Every city we visited, in Australia and New Zealand, had a park or royal garden near the city center named after Queen Victoria, the reigning monarch when the countries were officially founded.  Each park, or garden, had a life-sized (or larger) statue of Queen Victoria; she was not looking amused.  Of course, in anticipation of finding something interesting to photograph, we took the big glass along. 

Protect yourselves, there’s cuteness overload coming after the jump!

As we wandered the paths in the beautiful garden (remember, it’s Spring in the Southern Hemisphere in October) we literally stumbled onto this scene playing out in the shadows along the Avon River.  In the U.S. are used to rivers being formidable moving bodies of water not to be trifled with.  This river was probably 10 meters (30 feet) across and maybe one meter (3 feet) deep.  Tourists had rented punts to paddle along on the nice sunny spring day.  The scene reminded me of a prior visit to the city of Oxford in England.

Jan and I walked past a pair of Canada Geese (they sure get around, like House Sparrows) enjoying the sunshine and new grass along the river bank.  Under a small tree by the river, carefully camouflaged in the shade, Jan spotted a brood of baby ducks with their parents.  We had only taken a few photos when there was an explosion of feathers from under the small tree.  The mother duck put on a full head of whoop-ass and looked to be heading straight toward us. 

Thankfully for us, her focus was on the pair of Canada Geese behind us and she screamed right past.  Once her feathers unruffled, we were able to identify this as a family of Paradise Shelducks (Tadorna variegata).  Yes, another +1 for us.

The shadows under the tree opened up a bit to let us see the dark colored drake tending the fuzzy ducklings.  The ducklings dark and light downy feather pattern is perfect for hiding in the dappled sunlight under a tree. 

In a prior story (see here), I mentioned that about the only thing cuter than a koala is a bunch of baby ducks.  Now you can compare photos from the two stories to see which is your favorite.  Please leave your choice in the comments

With the threat from the pair of Canada Geese eliminated, momma duck relaxed a bit.  She stopped to pose on the edge of the sunshine for a few photos, then quickly duck-walked back under the tree.  Female Shelduck’s have white heads and mostly brown bodies with green highlights. 

Males have the same general body coloring, but have charcoal-colored heads.  There are white patches on the leading edges of both of their wings in flight. 

The imminent threat having passed, one of the ducklings felt braver than the rest and began to think about an adventure into the sunshine.

However, not before hiding behind a piece of grass to make sure the coast is clear.  At least, that’s what it looked like from the camera’s perspective.  It was still not very far from its parents.  In case the blade of grass isn’t enough for a reference on scale, these ducklings are small enough to comfortably fit in the palm of my hand. 

I’m not sure if this one is watching a bug, or practicing mom’s withering stare, or a bit of both.  I could see it “talking” to something unseen, but there was enough ambient noise that I couldn’t quite here its baby duck murmurings. (imagine a baby duck quacking for the full effect)

The Paradise Shelduck is not migratory, at least not very long distances like most ducks in North America.  Their entire range consists of the North and South Islands of New Zealand.  A pair of Paradise Shelducks will mate for life.  They will incubate between 5 and 15 eggs for 30 days.  Both parents will protect the nest, but the female takes care of the incubation duties.  Once the ducklings hatch, the parents lead them to water to teach them to feed and evade predators.  Perhaps what this duck family was doing while we were there.

OK, be honest.  Weren’t you smiling the entire time you read about the baby ducks?  See!  It would be tough to photograph something so cute without smiling the whole time.

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more baby, or adult, Paradise Shelduck photos, please visit here. 

Credits Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for many of the photos in this article.