Julia_greenbay
New member
Hi everyone,
This is my first time here as I'm just not sure who to ask about this and so any guidance or info would greatly appreciated!
First, a bit of background. We live in West Auckland, New Zealand, in an area with plenty of wild ducks around the streets and they often venture onto our property. We have always enjoyed watching from afar and having them around. Last year we also had a regular pair of ducks visiting and a nest laid at the back of our property - we loved watching the ducklings grow up!
This year, we've had a female visiting regularly again, over the last few months. Although she could be the same duck that was here last year, it's hard to be certain.
Anyway, for the last couple of days there have been a few strange incidents- we've had her arriving at 6am (while it's still very dark as winter here) quacking loudly and when I went out onto our deck, she came up the stairs and right next to me. We've also seen her out on the lawn in the dark and on another day she was distress quacking and quivering/fluffing up her feathers when two other ducks flew into our garden. The quacking lasted about 45 minutes until they all flew away.
Three days ago we found a broken egg shell on our deck, in the same spot where she had approached me and then today another broken egg with bright yellow inside, again in the same vicinity. Both times these have been accompanied by plenty of explosive looking excrement (sorry not a pleasant visual!) on the deck. And the egg shells seem incredibly soft.
By the sounds of all of this, is there something wrong with her/is she unwell? And is there anything I could be doing to help her, without intervening with nature too much? Our local SPCA may be able to pick her up but I'm not sure if that's necessary or even possible.
As I said, any help greatly appreciated and thanks for reading this far!
Julia
This is my first time here as I'm just not sure who to ask about this and so any guidance or info would greatly appreciated!
First, a bit of background. We live in West Auckland, New Zealand, in an area with plenty of wild ducks around the streets and they often venture onto our property. We have always enjoyed watching from afar and having them around. Last year we also had a regular pair of ducks visiting and a nest laid at the back of our property - we loved watching the ducklings grow up!
This year, we've had a female visiting regularly again, over the last few months. Although she could be the same duck that was here last year, it's hard to be certain.
Anyway, for the last couple of days there have been a few strange incidents- we've had her arriving at 6am (while it's still very dark as winter here) quacking loudly and when I went out onto our deck, she came up the stairs and right next to me. We've also seen her out on the lawn in the dark and on another day she was distress quacking and quivering/fluffing up her feathers when two other ducks flew into our garden. The quacking lasted about 45 minutes until they all flew away.
Three days ago we found a broken egg shell on our deck, in the same spot where she had approached me and then today another broken egg with bright yellow inside, again in the same vicinity. Both times these have been accompanied by plenty of explosive looking excrement (sorry not a pleasant visual!) on the deck. And the egg shells seem incredibly soft.
By the sounds of all of this, is there something wrong with her/is she unwell? And is there anything I could be doing to help her, without intervening with nature too much? Our local SPCA may be able to pick her up but I'm not sure if that's necessary or even possible.
As I said, any help greatly appreciated and thanks for reading this far!
Julia
