“Five little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away, Mother Duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,” …and you know the rest. Kylie, a carer with Chittering Wildlife Carers tells us of her experiences with some of our cuter wildlife babies (who didn’t come back).
There is nothing cuter than a fuzzy little native duckling, but they are also extremely messy! They are eating, washing, sleeping, pooping machines! It is coming up to that time of the year when Chittering Wildlife Carers (CWC) get a lot of calls from members of the public who have found lost ducklings.
Common species of duck native to the Chittering/Bindoon/Gingin area include the Australian Wood Duck, Black Pacific and Australian Shelduck. I have been a wildlife carer for a few years and last spring I had the delightful (and messy!) task of caring for four batches of ducklings across many months. Each batch was a mixture of different species and were at different ages and stages of growth. Initially, they are kept indoors under a heat lamp, then in an outdoor cage in a protected area, outdoors in a roaming pen, then finally free-ranging until they were ready to fly away.
Ducklings rarely survive when they are raised alone, so CWC ensures all ducklings that come into care are paired with other ducklings of a similar age. I am fortunate to live on a property with a natural freshwater source and this helps the ducklings to learn how to swim and forage while they are mastering the art of flying. A duck’s first flight is an amusing sight, as they run downhill every day and one day they suddenly find themselves airborne and look so confused at what has just happened! Their first flight seems to be a panicked effort to figure out how to steer and get back to the ground. First landings are never graceful!
Ducklings normally stay extremely close to their duck parents and both parents and babies will make a huge effort to stay together and reunite if they are separated. If their parents are not close, then they will also stick closely to their siblings if any are nearby. If you see ducklings that seem to be without a parent nearby, it is important to first look and listen for parents or other ducklings calling to them. They may just need time to reunite and may need your help to reunite if ducklings can’t reach their parent. If you can see the parents and the ducklings are stuck and can’t get to them, you can pick them up briefly to put them within a few meters of the parent and they should run to join the family group straight away. Some native ducks can have more than 10 ducklings at a time and if they are startled may run away quickly and leave some ducklings behind. Ducklings will call loudly to help their parents find them.
If you find a duckling or group of ducklings that seem to be without a parent, make sure the ducklings are out of any immediate danger then stand back, wait and watch them carefully to see if a parent reappears to collect them. The amount of time to wait depends on where they are located. If they are near water, safe and dry and in an area where you have seen ducks before, you can wait up to an hour. If, however, they are in a dangerous place such as on a road or in the sun with no shade or water, then wait 15-30 minutes depending on how dangerous the situation is. If the parent doesn’t reappear or the ducklings cannot safely stay where they are, pick them up and put them in a box with air holes. Ducklings who are calling for their parents are notorious escape artists and can jump higher than you think and squeeze through holes smaller than you think, so make sure the box allows air flow but no escape route. If a duckling is wet, limp and not calling out, quickly dry them by rubbing with a soft dry cloth then warm them up by wrapping them in a towel or putting them next to your skin. Then it is important to keep them warm, and contact Chittering Wildlife Carers on 0498 883 643 or another wildlife care group. Please do not attempt to care for native ducklings without an appropriate license and training. If a carer can’t collect them from you straight away and you need to keep them overnight, give them a shallow dish of water deep enough to dip their beak into but no deeper than their legs. Although their feathers should be waterproof, they do not have the strength to swim for long and need a heat source to dry their feathers when very young.
You can give found ducklings lettuce if you need to, but it is best to not feed them and to let a wildlife carer do this. Please do not give them bread, seafood, muesli bars, tinned tuna, porridge or other human foods. These are real examples of what ducklings have been fed by members of the public with all the best intentions, but these foods are not appropriate and can kill ducklings.
I love being a wildlife carer for native ducklings, but it is a messy job of constantly cutting lettuce and other greens, forever swapping mucky water bowls for fresh water, and cleaning up runny duck poop! The highlights are watching the baby fuzz change to adult feathers, watching them learn to swim and fly, and eventually it is very rewarding to see them fly away to live their best life. It is wonderful that so many members of the local community rescue native ducklings and bring them to CWC. Please keep an eye out this coming winter and spring for ducklings that may need you to scoop them up, keep them warm and contact a wildlife care organisation.
