It Swims Like A Duck, It Quacks Like A Duck…..

But it sure as hell doesn’t look like any duck we’ve seen in the wilds of New Zealand before. This male Mandarin Duck has recently appeared on Lake Rotoiti here at the Nelson Lakes. It’s thought that he’s either an escapee from some bird fancier in Nelson or Blenheim or more likely, given we are in the middle of nowhere, someone no longer wanted him & they’ve dropped him off to fend for himself.

And he is fending for himself quite admirably, he is about two thirds the size of the mallard ducks he hangs around with near the jetty, yet I’m sure he is ‘top dog(duck)’. He chases the other ducks out of the way if they get too close and is first to any food thrown to them. He quite happily flies off with the group when they’re finished checking out the people arriving at the lake front.

How stunning is he? What an amazing collection of colours and feather textures on one bird. Nature sure is a wonderful thing. On the other hand, imagine if a clothing designer designed a jacket looking like this, they'd get laughed off the catwalk.

I love his feet, they looked like separate yellow toes but in fact there are black webs in between. I also love his bronze coloured spiky neck ruff which he puffed out whenever another duck got near.

I wonder what will happen to him, maybe DOC will catch him and find him a good home with a pond and other Mandarin Ducks. He must be lonely without other Mandarins around. At least my other favourite odd ducks, the Plumed Whistling Ducks at Anderson Park in Napier, have each other.

While we’re on the subject of ducks, you’ll be pleased to know that there were still nine little ducklings following mum around the camp today. No more losses to report although I shudder to think how many will make it do adultduckhood. They have no fear and spend all day wandering about crossing the road in front of cars and swimming in the pot hole puddles. Along with getting attacked my marauding drakes, mum’s work is cut out keeping an eye on them.

I put a water filled tray outside the van for them to swim in and they loved it.There’s a tiny stream just down a bank to the right of them where they paddle and hunt for food but they kept coming back to the tray to freshen up. I put this tray out for the birds over summer; the blackbirds, thrushes, sparrows and finches all used it.

Next time I looked out I did a double take, either there was something in the water or another family had arrived to check out the free pool. This family have eight ducklings and a mother who means business. She gives me a good whack with her beak and will chase me if I turn to move out of the way. And that’s after I’ve put her duckling back down on the ground!

After a swim to wash themselves, the ducklings settled in groups on the grass in the warm sun to sleep.

But not for long, after five minutes or so Mum was up and off again calling to them to follow.

 I can see it's going to be a busy week for me keeping an eye on these two active families.

Footnote- sadly overnight three tiny ducklings went missing. Three!! I wonder what got them, possibly eels or rats or maybe even the weka that's walking around camp.

Halt! Who Goes There?

Or in sealion speak "HUMPH!!" Back off now or I'll charge....

This is a Hookers Sealion (whakahao), a humungous male that has taken up residence in the little bay of Moeraki much to the consternation of the locals. Nobody can visit the beach or walk the Millennium Walk for fear of coming across this brute. And he's pretty hard to spot in amongst the clumps of seaweed & diftwood. Especially when the sea fog has rolled in. This is the view from just below our camp site. How close is that!

We first saw him on our walk to the local pub for dinner, I only had my cell phone with me so these photos aren't great but you'll get the idea of how large he is. Like a great piece of lard he was lolling about in his smelly sand pit. Keeping an evil eye on us. In fact we had seen him earlier swimming around a boat in the bay that was filleting fish. He is obviously onto a good thing.

He even stuck his flipper up just to make sure we had seen him! :)

But when he started flicking sand in the air you knew he was getting annoyed with the disturbance.

We left him then but I was up early the next morning hoping to catch him leaving the beach but when I got there he was still snoring away. I knew he was still there before I saw him, the smell was well, very....unique.  The fog was thick, I couldn't see any boats when I first arrived but slowly as the sun came up the mist disappeared to reveal the boats at anchor.

 

He stuck his head up a few times but continued to rest on waiting for the sun to warm his back no doubt.

 

I think he's actually quite cute, look at that soft rounded nose & big beady eyes. He had a well defined mane too.

"Hey, you Mr Oyster Catcher, don't come too close"

I waited it out in the fog & then the brisk morning air for about 90 minutes but this is the best I could get of him stirring. And then he flopped back down again. When we left the camp site a couple of hours later he was gone. For all his faults, what a beautiful animal he is.

And while I was waiting & the fog began to retreat this fogbow (rainbow) appeared for the briefest of moments. I managed to get two shots & then it was gone. Very unusual don't you think.