The Stunning Plumed Whistling Duck
I never ever thought we would ever have this stunning duck the Plumed whistling duck on our property and two of them, a pretty little female and a handsome male walked daily around our property, regularly coming up near the back of our house and laying under the shade of a tree near where we had a bowl of fresh water. Late afternoon they would fly out to feed on the seed in local pastures and return to a base camp during the day. Well this couple thought they were living in a resort with fresh water plenty of shade no risks of dogs, cats, snakes and other large birds of prey and it was quiet. What more could a duck want, but this story will turn a little sad as I progress through this post
They are 41-62cm in size and the female is slightly smaller than the male and has a lighter head. But they appeared to be totally devoted to each other, so in love. They Breed from Aug to October and the female will lay 10-12 eggs. . They also have long pinkish legs
During the day they would sleep usually under the shade of a tree, but on colder days we watched them sleep curled up on the grass
Now they have a beautiful soft high pitched whistle which we could hear all over our property. One morning we could hear and see the male wandering around calling for his partner (may I say, it seems appropriate) but she wasn't to be found all day, he walked around continually calling for her. He didn't fly out that late afternoon but went and laid down in her favorite sleeping place. The next day he was calling her just on daylight again and continued this all day. I was starting to feel so sad for him. I also started to think the worst that maybe a big carpet snake took her during the night as it just didn't seem like she would just go off on her own.
On the late afternoon of the third day he flew away and we didn't see him again, hubby and I wondered what ever happened and we both had very sad hearts. Two weeks later the 2 of them flew down early in the morning he looked so pleased with himself and she looked beautiful and as they slowly made it up to the bowl of fresh water staggering up behind them was a baby duckling. So we don't know if she forgot to sit on the eggs or that she had to go and lay some eggs somewhere but she could of let him know that she would be away for a while. So now we have three here every morning and we really love it. But a few days later we had another 11 small ducks fly in later in the morning. Now, we thought she had only had one that survived as only one was with them when they first returned, but they all survived and now the 12 ducklings only fly in every now and again probably just to check up on their parents as they don't stay for long. What a surprise 12 little ducklings. No wonder she had the urge to leave in a hurry.They obviously become very independent after hatching but stay together as siblings. Just beautiful
This next lot of photos I caught the two love ducks walking along a pipe with their web feet and they appeared to be enjoying their dare devil activity
They can do some fancy footwork too but with web feet, now that is very clever and even though she nearly lost her footing in this photo below she still looked very calm and confident
The weight in those feathers must be very heavy too but just amazing. Now it is his turn to impress his female partner
Well that is our close up experience with the beautiful Plumed Whistling Ducks. There bright yellow eyes and different patterns and colors in their plumage makes them really standout