Blog » May 2008

Today we meet a very special duck: Pixel.  Pixel was named by our pals Chris and Bethany over at Avoca Designs.

On the left we see Pixel hanging out in a very tall patch of grass.  On the right, we see a picture showing the lay viewer how to tell Pixel apart from the other Indian Runners: notice the dark patch of feathers (nay:  pixelated splotch!) by her left leg.  As you can see from comparing her underside to the underside of Siren on the far right, she's pretty easy to spot.  (Ha!  Spot!  Pixel!)

The gang has been having a good time hanging out in the very tall grass lately.  Bruce and Spruce spend all day eating said grass, but the small ducks just hide in it.  You will notice their very protective fence in the background:  as of Friday the 23rd, we have had two bobcat sightings in our yard. No one was hurt (thanks to the fence and the early warning system of QUACK QUACK QUACK), but still. We hate the bobcat. (We also had a small-crazy-puppy sighting last night at dusk when a little black and white dog rocketed around the yard for a few minutes before heading through the woods to the horse barn.)

In other news, we went hiking last week and saw this great little eft! I love the efts, because they are so small (this one was the size of a car key) and so very bright orange.

As you can see, the little ones believe the solar panels to be a place of respite from the sun.  Or perhaps from hawks.  Either way, they hang out under there during the middle of the day.

In vaguely-related news, the New Hampshire's state legislature passed a bill recently (House Bill 1628) so that any grid-tied systems (PV, wind, or micro-hydro) can get $3/watt for their system -- up to $6000, or 50% of the system cost (whichever is less).  That is tres cool, because NH has been seriously lagging on the whole rebate front.

Alright, back to the birds.  The baby ducks have almost a full set of feathers now, though they are still only about 50% of their full-grown size.  Bruce is 85% better (still limping a little), and is again running around like a crazy goose.  The geese are growing noticeably slower than the ducks, and Spruce is only just now starting to get real feathers on her belly (the first place real feathers grow).

I am really sad that the camera focused on the near-grass instead of the far-goose, but I will show you this picture of Bruce anyway.  If you have met Bruce, you know that this is picture captures alot about his personality.  Namely, "GRASS.  GRASS FOR ME."

We went out the other day and ended up on a trail that was still covered in snow.   This is an odd time of year to hike -- trails are either still snowy, or very muddy.  This one happened to be both!  We soon realized that we were not the only ones using the trail:

At some point a few nights ago he stumbled on himself in the night and started limping.  We're not sure if it's a sprain or a pinched nerve or what, but it doesn't really matter because all bird injuries are treated the same:  keep the bird warm and fed and don't let them limp around all over the place.  So Bruce is in prison.  He's getting better; he gets water therapy (AKA a warm bath) every day where he can use his leg a little without putting any weight on it. 

He doesn't mind prison too much because all of the other birds sleep right near his prison walls when they're outside together, and he's got grass to eat.  He doesn't mind much of anything as long as there's fresh green grass to munch on.

Meet Siren:

Siren has been named by our pals at Stokefire.  I believe that they were thinking of the sultry Greek sirens.  We were thinking, Oh Wow you're loud.  Indian Runners have slightly higher anxiety levels than many other breeds of duck.  They are prone to peeping (and later quacking) at such varied threats as chickadees, far-off crows, and grass.

In related news, the older ducks have started laying eggs again.  We have 4 adult ducks, so we've been getting 4 eggs each morning.  Except yesterday we got 5.  Someone must have had a loooong day.  Below is a comparison picture:  white duck egg on the left, brown chicken egg on the right.

Other than the size (which, for the record, is 3.2 oz compared to the standard chicken egg of 2 oz), they're pretty much the same.  Tasty and fresh, with yolks that are almost impossible to cook all the way through.  We're excited to have them be part of our diet again.