| Joined: | Wed Apr 18th, 2012 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 4207 |
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20+years ago we had Mallards nesting in the garden. I had to place out bowls and containers with water on the lawn to give swimming lessons to the ducklings…and entertain us! But what a mess!
We stopped having them nest here in 2010. But every year since then one or two adult ducks come here for short visits around Easter.
It cannot be the original ‘parents’ they will be long gone ……so it must be successive offspring handing down the imprinted location of their birth????
They don’t wander around the garden aimlessly like the wood pigeons, they come directly to the patio and wait by the window, sometimes even tapping the glass with their beaks. It’s quite staggering to think a simple duck can remember where to come to get safe haven…and some corn!
Anyway two just landed while we were scarifying the lawns. They ambled past the scarifier and onto the patio for ….porridge. Yes we have found every bird seems to like porridge rooks, crow, jackdaws, magpies, blackbirds, doves, pigeons, robins, great tits, dunnocks …even squirrels. We buy a bag of cheap stuck and spread a few handfuls each day on the lawn ….because it’s so fragmented …it lasts for ages because they have to work for it.
So I commend you to porridge to attract the bigger birds…..no milk or sugar required.
Not having a camera to hand I am belatedly posting some shots of maybe their grandmother/ grandfather ducks?
Last edited on Fri Apr 7th, 2023 17:09 by
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Eric