This week, GIFs of birds swooping, chickens fighting, and the duck flapping his wings, plus more pictures.
Here’s an animated GIF of a bird swooping over the pond; I think this is a female red-winged blackbird:
A still from that; nice wingspan:
Our remaining duck, Bert, in the pond:
And on the bank (which is rather weedy at present):
A GIF of a male red-winged blackbird swooping over a heron, no doubt telling it to move along:
GIF of male and female red-winged blackbirds by the duck house and over the pond, watched by Bert:
A still of that:
Broody chickens:
The chickens can get feisty sometimes; here’s a GIF of a chicken fight; fascinating how they fluff up their feathers:
Last GIF, of Bert standing on the “island” and flapping his wings:
The pond is very full at present, with all of the rain recently, so the island is slightly below the surface. Which is fine with him; easier to get onto it. Here he’s starting to flap:
And just standing on it:
Notice that the duck house door is closed now; I noticed that he wasn’t going in anyway. I feed him next to it in the mornings, as previously mentioned. I’ll probably clean out the duck house this weekend, in preparation for new ducklings in just over a week. Looking forward to that!
Let’s finish up with a couple of chicken pictures. All eyes on me as they wait for treats:
No eyes on me after I toss out the treats:
Poor Bert. He is so lonely. Will you put the new ducklings in the house for a time, & leave Bert outside? He’ll probably love their company.
Yes, the ducklings will be in the duck house, and he’ll be outside. They require heat (32°C initially, reducing each week) and different food. He could hurt them, too; ducklings are comparatively tiny. But ducklings grow fast; they’ll be able to join him in the pond in a couple of months. And he can hang out with me when I’m tending to the ducklings.