Urban Ducklings on the Move: Navigating City Roads and Helping Wild duck Families
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Guiding Ducklings on the Move: Ensuring Safety for Duck Familties During Migrations - Strategies for Securely Aiding Duck Clans
With increasing frequency, local headlines announce "Ducklings rescued from busy streets" - just like the recent episode in Büttelborn, Hesse, where ten ducklings were saved from the A67. Similarly, ducklings were wandering along the A5 near Hemsbach and Weinheim, as reported earlier. As soon as they hatch, mallard ducks take their little ones to the water for food, regardless of the city traffic around them.
But why do duck families journey now?
Ducks predominantly live in water, mostly for food and security against predators such as minks, foxes, and cats. Torsten Collet from NABU Rhineland-Palatinate explains that the mallard breeding season begins around mid-March, causing the first ducklings to hatch in April or May. As mallards are known as "nest-leavers," the mother bird abandons the nest after six to twelve hours, taking the young to the nearest suitable water body. Traversing one or two roads during this process is unavoidable.
Sometimes these ducks find unconventional shelter, such as in a fifth-story flowerpot in Frankfurt, safe from predators but with no water in sight. Despite this, authorities moved the mother duck and her twelve babies to a safer location, thanks to the efforts of Kostadin Georgiev from the HLNUG (Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology) bird protection station.
Why don't they retreat from traffic noise?
"City-dwelling animals adapt to the noise over time," Collet explains. Once they understand that the noise indicates minimal danger, they lose their fear of it. "The mother instinctively knows the quickest and safest route to the water," Georgiev adds.
Can ducklings survive without their mother and do they require human assistance? Could another mother duck adopt the ducklings?
Being nest-leavers, young ducklings can fend for themselves from the moment they hatch, though their mother protects them from predators in their early days, and she helps teach them what is edible during shared food searches. "In theory, another mother duck could adopt abandoned ducklings," Georgiev objects.
If ducks cross your path, how to assist them? Where can you seek help?
"It's best not to intervene," Georgiev advises. In fact, it's even illegal to take the ducklings. For ducklings with their mother near a road with minimal traffic, no human intervention is needed. However, for concerns on busy highways or heavily trafficked roads, the police should be alerted, as the risk of accidents increases. If the ducks are far from a nearby water body and must cross hazardous roads, they should be caught and moved to the nearest safe water body.
- Police
- Büttelborn
- Hesse
- Groß-Gerau
- Weinheim
- Mannheim
- Nature Conservation Association Germany e.V.
- Rhineland-Palatinate
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Mallard Ducks: Surviving and Adapting in Urban Spaces
Mallard ducks, worldwide one of the most widespread and adaptable waterfowl species, display fascinating migration patterns, although less complex than some other duck species. They exhibit seasonal movements, with certain routines in pairing, migration, and brood movement.
Migration:
- Binding and Migration: Mallards form pairs during the fall migration, with early pairing providing an advantage as they can migrate north earlier and secure better breeding resources.
- Migration Routes: Unlike other duck species such as blue-winged teal, mallards tend to have more localized migration habits, moving between areas in search of suitable habitats rather than following highly specific corridors.
Mother and Ducklings:
- Brood Movement: After hatching, the mother takes her ducklings to a nearby body of water where they learn to swim and forage for food. The brood remains together for several weeks.
- Foraging and Protection: The mother protects her ducklings from predators, teaching them essential survival skills. Ducklings are precocial, meaning they are relatively mature and mobile from birth, which facilitates their movement with their mother.
- The community can play a crucial role in the conservation of fishery resources by advocating for and supporting effective fisheries management policies, ensuring sustainable practices in fishing.
- As urban lifestyles become more common, home-and-garden communities can contribute to wildlife conservation efforts by providing suitable habitats for waterfowl species like the mallard ducks, creating small ponds or water features in their gardens.
