where the duck did they come from?

[Josie]

On opening our bedroom curtains this morning we noticed 5 lovely ducks in our front garden (this is a first) just going about their day. Then later on I saw them being escorted across a busy road by a lady and finally I saw them again on our dog walk.

They were super friendly but clearly wild ducks. I noticed they had ring tags around their legs. Is the duck population on the decrease and they want to keep tabs on them?

 

[Violet Turner]

That's cute

 

[arealhuman]

When I started reading your post and saw the pic below, I thought you had a huge front garden! Can't help with the rings on the ducks I'm afraid.

 

[Josie]

They’re back!!

 

[Josie]

P.s pleasebignore the state of our front lawn. It’s never quite recovered!

 

[leashedForLife]

.

They may or may not be “wild” - they could be feral (offspring of abandoned / dumped domestic ducks), they could be simply abandoned former pets, or someone’s stray livestock.

Mallards are wild, but a lookalike French breed, the Rouen, is a very common feral in the U-S, interbreeding with wild ducks so frequently that our duck specialist in Wildlife Response, Inc., refused to rear any ducklings whose parentage was not KNOWN - as in, photos to document both duck & drake, on the nest or with the ducklings.
All the unknowns were euthanized; he was bl**dy tired of rearing ducklings & then being unable to release them when their down shed, feathers emerged, & it became apparent they were either mutts or feral.
No nonprofit can afford to squander precious resources on unreleasable animals, who cannot even serve as captive breeders or education animals. // Farmers don’t want mutt poultry, either. Those feral birds can carry bacteria, contagions, or internal pests that can run thru their entire flock of healthy birds.

That they are banded is a good clue - are the bands SOLID, or were they bent closed? SOLID bands or rings can only be put onto hatchlings; bent rings can be put on fledglings & adults.
If they are solid bands, i’d say they’re definitely domesticated ducks; if the bands are split / bent to close, there’s a remote chance they might be wild, but if so, they’ve been thoroughly habituated, especially the young birds ( it looks to me like 3 adults in eclipse plumage, 2 drakes & 1 duck, plus 2 half-grown).

- terry

.

 

[arealhuman]

P.s pleasebignore the state of our front lawn. It’s never quite recovered!

Ours is the same, mowed them yesterday, most of it was dried so badly it just went to dust when the mower went over.