More ducklings day 53: a day outside

The new ducks all survived their first night outside (as expected, they weren’t at all interested in going back inside the duck house when they had the whole pond environs to enjoy).

Here are all of the ducks — old and new — on the pond bank when I did my morning rounds. Still separated, but together:

Ducks on the pond bank

Betty and the new ducks were happy to accept some leafy treats (the others got some too, but weren’t as excited):

Leafy treats

Leafy treats

Sassa:

Sassa

A couple of Rouens:

Rouens

Betty and the new ducks on the edge of the lawn by the pond:

New ducks

Rooting in the grass:

Rooting in grass

Rooting in grass

Rooting in grass

At the duck house, I removed the kiddie pool, since they don’t need it anymore, and moved the food dish into the run area, as a step towards discontinuing it and just using the feeder tube inside the duck house:

Removed kiddie pool

The removed kiddie pool drying off:

Removed kiddie pool

I also moved the mobile camera (that was watching the run) to a better position to watch the pond and bank:

Camera

This afternoon, they were still sitting on the bank:

Sitting on the bank

Sassa having a good stretch:

Sitting on the bank

This is becoming a pattern: a summary GIF of all 42 of today’s pictures (actually, the first few are from last night, after yesterday’s post); again, some of these that weren’t included above may turn up in next week’s Flock Friday, so enjoy the sneak peek and bonus pics:

GIF summary

Cat update for week ending October 3

The usual assortment of cat house and cabin pictures, plus some live sightings. And a summary GIF, since people seem to enjoy that.

Pretzel cat inside the cat house:

Pretzel cat

While fixing a broken tap in the flowerbeds, I spotted a cat next to the cat house:

Behind cat house

Porcini:

Porcini

Paladout:

Paladout

Porcini again:

Porcini

Stretch:

Stretch

What a shock, it’s Porcini being cute again:

Porcini

While spending time with the ducks, I spotted a cat across the pond:

Cat by pond

Cat by pond

Breakfast queue:

Breakfast queue

Pommie at the cabins:

Pommie

Pommie

Pommie

Porcini and Pommie:

Porcini and Pommie

Porcini hunting for rodents on a tree trunk:

Porcini on a tree

Porcini on a tree

And in the field (which is more of a meadow nowadays):

Porcini in the field

Pepper in the shop:

Pepper in the shop

Bella:

Bella

Pommie and Poppa:

Pommie and Poppa

Finally, a GIF summary of 46 pictures taken this week. I think this one works even better than usual, since I often capture several sequential pictures:

GIF summary

More ducklings day 52: into the pond!

Today’s the big day: I removed a panel of the duckling run and opened the pop door, letting the ducklings into the pond. Which I consider their graduation to calling them just “ducks”.

I said yesterday that I wasn’t sure when I’d do that. One reason I decided to proceed was that one of the Rouens got out of the duck house last night. She pushed open the cupboard door from inside the nesting box, and hopped out:

Duck house escape

(The cupboard doors are held shut with roller catches, so require a little force to open.)

Here you can see her outside the gate on the left, watched by others inside:

Duckling outside

Here’s a picture of her when I went out there and discovered her outside; I opened the gate and encouraged her back in:

Duckling outside

I felt that was a sign that they were antsy to explore more of their world, and since they’re old enough, decided it was time.

I started this morning the same as ever, with fresh straw and leafy treats:

Morning treats

Then I removed the run fence side by the pond, letting them into it; Betty came over to say hi, as she often does:

Removed run fence side

The new ducks on the edge of pond:

Ducks on edge of pond

And entering the pond for the first time:

Ducks entering pond

Sassa was the second one in:

Ducks entering pond

Some pictures of the new ducks in the pond:

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

The two groups kept mostly separate, though interacted a bit:

Ducks

Did you see the video?

Betty seemed concerned about Sassa; at one point I saw her nudge Sassa when she was having a little difficulty in getting onto the pond edge (something she got better at with practice):

Sassa escorted by Betty

Sassa still looks messy, but that should improve with more swimming. As expected, her gimpy leg wasn’t so much of a problem when in the water:

Sassa

The new ducks spent a while hanging out in the shallow end by the waterfall (which is currently off):

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

And on the bank by the waterfall:

New duck by waterfall

New ducks in pond

This is by the duck house:

New ducks in pond

Betty spent some time hanging out with the new ducks on the edge of the pond by the waterfall:

Ducks on edge of pond

After a while, Sassa went back in the duck house for a rest and preening session:

Sassa

A couple of hours later, looking much better:

Sassa

Some new ducks and older ducks hanging out by the waterfall:

Ducks by waterfall

Here is a big GIF summary of 72 pictures from today (it might take a while to load); some of these will probably appear in next week’s Flock Friday:

GIF summary

We now have 13 ducks on our pond; Bert from the first batch, six from the second batch, and six more from the latest ones.

As before, I’ll probably continue the daily “More Ducklings” posts for a few days, then save up pictures for the next Flock Friday.

Flock Friday for October 2

Alrighty, today’s the day: some of the ducklings seem keen to explore beyond the duck house and run, so I’m going to let them out today. We’ll see if they take advantage of the opportunity. Stay tuned for tonight’s duckling post!

In the meantime, one last Flock Friday without the latest ducklings. In next week’s post, they’ll be all together.

Firstly, did you see the video of the hummingbirds last weekend?

Hummingbirds

Here are the older ducks having a meal:

Ducks

Hey Betty:

Ducks

On the pond amongst fallen leaves:

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

Boys’ club; the four male ducks (aka drakes):

Male ducks

Since the pop door opener on the new chicken coop is malfunctioning, I have to go out and reset it each evening, so I added a hook-&-eye to hold the hatch open while I do so to make that easier:

Pop door opener hatch

The manufacturer is sending me a new motor, which hopefully will fix that issue; we’ll see.

The four chickens that prefer that coop always look startled when I turn up around sunset:

Chickens

Exploding chickens! It’s molting time, so there are feathers everywhere:

Chickens

A totally normal thing at this time of year. They stop laying while molting, though, so we’re down to only about five eggs per day, instead of the 12-17 we were getting in summer. Which is still plenty for us, we just can’t give them away for a while.

This is nifty; if you look closely, you can see her third eyelid half closed:

Chickens

More pictures of the chickens:

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

A favorite dust bath location. Though Buffy looks embarrassed; “don’t look at me, I’m hideous!” It’s okay Buffy; you may look messy while shedding your old feathers, but you’ll grow fancy new ones:

Chickens

Back to the ducks; the ducklings watching duck butts in the pond:

Duck butts

Let’s all go this way:

Ducks

What’s that strange red thing in our food dish? (It’s a tomato, which I haven’t offered them before; they prefer green treats.)

Ducks

Hanging out on the path, and Sonja flapping her wings:

Ducks

In the pond; Rémy showing his shiny green head:

Ducks

More ducklings day 51

Another day in the duck house. When will I let them into the pond? Soon! How soon? I’ll let you know when I do!

It’s always fun to dig through fresh straw. And look at those shiny feathers:

Ducklings

Rouens with leafy treats. It’s hard to capture a picture without too much motion blur, as they’re moving quite fast:

Leafy treats

How fast? Here’s a GIF of a Live Photo, with bits flying everywhere:

GIF of leafy treats

This is a little blurry, but funny:

Leafy treats

Hey Sassa:

Sassa

The daily Clara feather check; still not quite ready:

Clara feather check

A GIF summary of 18 photos today, with motion blurry treats and more Clara and Sassa pics:

GIF summary

(Yes, Sassa got some treats too; she doesn’t like to join the fray, but I always make sure she gets some.)

Wildfire update

The nearby wildfire is still burning, but has had minimal growth recently, currently 37% contained. Which may not sound great, but it’s the important 37% near civilization; the remainder is pretty much wilderness.

All evacuation zones have now been lifted.

To recap, on September 8 we had heavy winds, resulting in major power cuts throughout the region, which whipped a small wildfire into a massive inferno that quickly engulfed thousands of acres — currently 138,126 acres in total. As we were about to head to bed that night, we received a level 2 evacuation warning (“get set”), skipping level 1, meaning we should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. We packed up a bunch of stuff, and after agonizing about it for a while, decided to evacuate to Mom’s place three hours north, along with our dog, two pet cats, and six ducklings.

The next day, the evacuation zone went to level 3 (“go now”), so we chose wisely. We watched the evacuation zones expanding; here’s a GIF of the evacuation map from my phone:

Evacuation zones map GIF

Over the next week, as things got somewhat under control, they reduced the evacuation zones again. On the 14th, we took a day trip down to our homestead to feed the feral cats, chickens, and ducks we left behind.

Here’s a GIF of the reducing evacuation zones (each screenshot a day or more apart):

Evacuation zones map GIF

We returned home on the 19th, glad that our home was spared. 56 houses were destroyed by this fire… which is actually quite low, compared to other fires around the state and entire west coast of the US. For example, the other big fire just south of the “Riverside” one, “Beachie Creek”, destroyed 486 homes and 837 other structures.

For context for NZ people, Clackamas County is about the width of the country by Auckland — from the west coast to beyond Waiheke Island. The “Riverside” fire region is about the size of the entire Greater Auckland city.

Here’s a map that shows how the wildfire progressed; massive expansion on the 8th, then slowing down as the weather changed:

Wildfire progression map

And the latest map of the fire, with the black outline indicating the contained fire line, and red uncontrolled, mostly in the wilderness areas:

Riverside incident map

The fire will probably continue to smolder until we get lots of rain, but is no longer considered a significant threat.

For more information, check out the Riverside Fire Information page, and the Riverside Fire Incident page, plus info on other active fires in Oregon.

Measuring tree heights

Every year at around this time I wander around the property measuring the heights of select trees, to see how much each has grown. Here’s a post about this last year.

Once again, the incremental growth throughout the year becomes more obvious when compared with measured heights from the previous year.

Here’s my spreadsheet recording the heights (in inches), with columns to indicate the change from the previous year, e.g. the “19 ▸ 20 Δ” column shows the number of inches of growth between 2019 and 2020:

Tree heights spreadsheet

I only took photos of some of the trees this year. Here they are, in the same order and captioned with the name from the spreadsheet. If you compare to last year’s post, you can see some distinct growth in some of the trees. I hope you enjoy some unusual glimpses of the homestead.

Coral bark maple (by front of shop):

Coral bark maple (by front of shop)

Field Leyland NW (corner):

Field Leyland NW (corner)

Field dawn redwood (second row):

Field dawn redwood (second row)

Field tulip (replacement) (second row):

Field tulip (replacement) (second row)

Field scarlet willow (second row):

Field scarlet willow (second row)

Field oak (replacement) (“Thorin 2”, center of field):

Field oak (replacement) (“Thorin 2”, center of field)

Behind white gazebo fir (N of gazebo):

Behind white gazebo fir (N of gazebo)

Next to stream fir (next to pond stream):

Next to stream fir (next to pond stream)

Weeping willow (beyond pond, by cat graveyard):

Weeping willow (beyond pond, by cat graveyard)

More ducklings day 50 (start of week 8)

The big 5-0. No summary GIF today; I took relatively few pictures, due to being busy with other stuff. But still some fun shots.

They really enjoy ripping bits off kale stalks:

Leafy treats

Leafy treats

Um, you have something on your bill. Several somethings, actually:

Dirty bill

A funny expression on Sassa:

Funny expression

Clara’s wing feathers are still growing; still not quite ready for the pond:

Feathers still growing

More leafy treats:

Leafy treats

Watching the duck butts in the pond, as the older ducks dive underwater:

Duck butts

More ducklings day 49

The ducklings are seven weeks old today, which means they could be eligible to go in the pond any time now. But I think I’ll give them another few days; they aren’t all fully feathered yet.

Let’s start a little differently this time: with a GIF time-lapse of overnight in the duck house. It is only showing times with activity, so if you notice big jumps in the clock, that’s when they’re sleeping. It’s fun to watch the water level drop in the waterer and tray — ducks drink a lot of water — I fill both when I close up the house, and they’re almost empty in the morning:

GIF summary

You probably saw the post earlier today with their names. Here’s me peeking through a nesting box at the formerly mystery duckling, Silver Swedish Sassa (aka Gimpy):

Silver Swedish Sassa

All of the ducklings… really ducks now:

Ducklings

Colorful Rouen… Rosa, Roxy, Riva, or Ruby… yep, one of them:

Colorful Rouen

I tried giving them bits of tomato as a treat… they weren’t too sure about that. It’s not green!

Tomato

That’s more like it… though my fingers aren’t included in the meal:

Fingery treats

Silver Swedish Sassa somewhat swimming — I tossed her in the pool again, for more reluctant swimming practice:

Silver Swedish Sassa somewhat swimming

Silver Swedish Sassa somewhat swimming

She’s much more clean than she was before; amazing what a short dunk or two will do. Though still got more preening and bathing to fully clean up:

Silver Swedish Sassa

Khaki Campbell Clara, still a bit of feather growth to do:

Khaki Campbell Clara

Clara swimming:

Khaki Campbell Clara swimming

Splashes:

Splashes

Raising out of the water:

Raising out of the water

Two Rouens:

Two Rouens

Two Rouens

Two Rouens

Once again, let’s finish with a GIF summary of all 38 pictures taken today:

GIF summary

Thanks for the feedback from several people. Seems that one second per picture is a good pace, and including all of the pictures provides interesting context. I’m glad you enjoy these, those that do — and if you don’t, easy to skip them at the end.