HI Paul,
The combination of two or more broods of waterfowl happens quite commonly. Waterfowl biologists call it creche-ing or brood amalgamation. I've heard it referred to as kidnapping too. Our breeding Common Mergansers seem to do it quite frequently. I've seen photos, taken locally, of a hen merganser with 38 youngsters in tow. I know Common Eiders and Canada Geese can be seen with larger-than-usual numbers of young in their brood. Sometimes the age differences are substantial enough to distinguish between the different broods.
That being said, I think its quite rare in dabbling ducks like Mallards, Blacks and Teal. I've only seen it a few times with these species and it was with younger-age birds as you describe. I think its a temporary situation with dabblers, more like some short term babysitting, while one hen sneaks off. In one pond I have seen a large amalgamated brood with one hen and the next day, saw two hens with broods that added up to the same number of young...
I have also surprised ducks on a pond and caused some broods to blend because they apparently saw me as a threat and combined in response. I think this sort of creche gets sorted out again quickly once the threat is gone.
That's all I know! Fun stuff to observe.
Bill
On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 11:44 PM, Paul Wells <pfwells51@gmail.com> wrote:
--Paul Wellsthanks,Any light that anyone can shed on this would be appreciated!I spent a couple of pleasant, fairly productive hours this morning birding at the Sanford Lagoons (aka the hotspot formerly known as the Sanford Sewer Ponds). There was not an abundance of waterfowl there today, but I was pleased to see a number of broods of new ducklings and goslings trailing along after their mothers. I noted one family of Wood Ducks (mother with five young); two of Mallards (one with six young, another with four); one of Black Ducks (four ducklings); and three of Canada Geese (four, six, and three young).But then there was another female Mallard with a huge raft of ducklings swimming along behind her. I could never get a precise count but there was easily between 25 and 30 fuzzballs following Mama. What was going on here? Surely she didn't hatch out a brood that large herself. Would ducklings from other mothers have simply joined the parade, with this one female running essentially a day-care service for ducklings? If the young from some of the other broods I saw broke away from their own mothers and took up with this one I never witnessed it happening. And besides, I hadn't seen this many total ducklings with the other females.Blog about birds and other things:
http://northbynortheastblog.blogspot.com/================================================================
Paul F. Wells
West Kennebunk, ME
USA
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
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