Friday, November 21, 2008

A Sad Day for Dinner Duck

Lately we have taken to calling Harpo "Dinner Duck". This is not because we are going to eat her. No...Harpo leaves her nest at mealtimes and positively BEGS like a puppy for food from us. It is all at once adorable and heartbreaking. She must be bored to tears on her nest and very, very hungry.

Well, it seems someone or something has figured out her routine.

Today we found the shell of an eaten duck egg in the driveway. There was much blood, indicating there had been a fetal duck inside. I almost cried.

I do not know how many eggs are left, but Christian only saw four when he went to check on her. Mind you, many more could have been underneath her - she was rotating them when he peeked.

I'll try to count tonight when she comes in for dinner. But we may not get ducklings after all. There are still two weeks left in her incubation. I am going to try to stay positive and hope that this one egg was the exception and not the rule. ...I'll let you know.

Edited at 7:30 pm: Well, there are at least eight left that I could see. I think there may actually be nine or possibly more. it looked like there might be an egg or two buried a little under her down. I hope whoever took the last egg does not come back.

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