Please..:)
I have a pair of Grey Teal ducks, with 8 grey ducklings and 2 yellow on the property. My question is...do all the ducklings start out yellow and go dark?
| Term and Conditions | Privacy Statement | Web Support by Gaia Resources Hosted by Serversaurus |  |
Gidday Cheryl,I looked this up for you in the "Readers Digest Complete Book Of Australian Birds" and it says "Quote" Ducklings are Smokey Grey-Brown on their back and head with white spots on wings and sides of back;grey-white on face and underneath.
Two conspicuous brown stripes on the head,one through the eye and one below it.
Immatures- Similiar to adults but paler,particularly on head and neck."Unquote"
Hope this helps Cheryl, at no time does the description mention yellow so I would say you have some ring ins...lol.
One more interesting fact is most juveniles only live to 12 months old and the majority of birds only live to 20 months.
The rate of "Turnover" in the Grey Teal population is very high.
Cheers
Tassie.
Thanks, Tassie. It does look like I have a couple of ring ins...wonder where they came from.
Hi Cheryl,
How interesting! I think I remember seeing some yellow-ish Pacific Black ducklings last Christmas. Perhaps the teal has adopted some Pacific Black ducklings? (Or the ducklings have "adopted" the teal family?)
Andy.
I was watching over the wood duck youngsters ( older teenagers now) in a local drain this morning, and where there were 4 there are now 5 and a lady was telling me that it is quite common for them to adopt or be adopted by ring ins. Apparently it was common when she was in Perth for the swans to do the same thing.
They all seemed happy together anyway
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Thank you for all replies.
I haven't seen the duckling family in question for a few days now, but do still keep a lookout. Just got to be in the right place at the right time as the ducks all seem to keep the ducklings under cover for most of the day and only allow a very short time to graze in the open.