I noticed a star magnolia blooming
at the southeast corner of
the Tata Innovation Center on Cornell
Tech campus on Roosevelt Island
on April 22nd, 2020.
And then something else caught my
attention as I was getting closer
to take a picture of the flower.
A duck that moved in the grass.
The duck ran away and stopped...
to get my attention away from her nest!
A nest with 8 eggs.
I am sorry mama duck!
I did not mean to disturb you.
I touch nothing and back away.
I wait for the mama duck to settle back
in the nest and then
I put a camera to start recording.
Let's observe her...
The mama duck changes her position
every 20-30 minutes or so.
Cleans her feathers while sitting on the eggs.
Occasionally,
she nibbles the surrounding grass.
And most of the time, she stays still.
Which makes it nearly impossible to find her!
She works very thoroughly to keep
all eggs warm and hidden away.
Here she tackles one of the eggs.
It is very hard to see her
or her nest when she stays still.
Amazing!
In the following weeks,
I visit her daily.
Always struggling to find her,
even I know where to look for.
I check on her at different times of day.
Day or night, morning or evening -
she is always in the nest!
In the cold and rain, she is always there
keeping the eggs warm.
I don't see her male duck even once.
The mama duck stays in the nest
for about 3 weeks without taking leave.
On May 11th,
19 days since I found the nest,
the mama duck is not in the nest
for the first time.
The eggs are covered with duck's down
very thoroughly.
I move the down carefully
just to take a look at the eggs...
Here you can see them.
The down serves as a blanket
to keep the eggs warm.
Let's cover the eggs with the down
as we found them.
About ten minutes later,
the mama duck is back in the nest.
Two days later, on May 13th,
the mama duck is gone again.
She covered the eggs again, and...
it's so warm in the nest!
I cover the eggs and
look around to see where she could be.
Sure thing, the mama duck is nearby
across the street by the river.
Apparently, she is watching me.
She flew back to the nest right away,
leaving me to watch her male duck
swimming in the East river.
May 16th, 2020
The mama duck is gone again.
The nest is covered thoroughly,
but it's flat...
Aha! Ducklings hatched last night!
Here you can see the remains,
the egg shells.
Remarcably, the mama duck covered
the nest to keep it hidden even after
ducklings hatched and left the nest for good.
Let's cover the nest back
the way mama duck wants it.
I wonder which way
the duck family may have gone...
Ducklings should be able to jump down
those high steps going down to the street.
Walk across the street to the river.
And then jump to the river...
that is more than a 6 foot drop down
to the rocks.
I hope the tide was high, covering the rocks,
helping ducklings to make a nice first splash.