jmgoyder

wings and things

The elusive duck

on March 25, 2012

Tapper (the duck who all the other ducks and geese adore and want to ‘marry’) keeps disappearing and then – as I mentioned in the previous post – mysteriously reappearing. I never see her anymore during the day but she always comes back at dusk. She waits until all of the gang are yarded and then she takes to the little pond like a duck to water (sorry I couldn’t help saying that!)

I can’t lock Tapper in the yard any longer because she flies out straight away. Well, that’s what I thought until I saw her actually climb out the other evening. She uses her wings for liftoff, but it is her massive webbed feet that get her over the fence. It’s like watching gravity reversed and very funny. So far she has been too quick for me to get a photo. I certainly didn’t know ducks could climb – but maybe she is just multi-talented!

Anyway, one of the Bubbles has lately taken to watching out for her. After all, they were raised in the same box in the kitchen so they’re a bit like siblings. The Bubble pictured below seems most concerned not to let Tapper wander off again but the trouble is Tapper is getting really sick of this. I will let the pictures tell the story:


29 responses to “The elusive duck

  1. She is quite a beautiful duck!

  2. Your bird stories always have me smiling.

  3. janeslog says:

    Lovely story. I love birds.

  4. magsx2 says:

    Hi,
    Wow, we know who the boss is. 😆

  5. avian101 says:

    It wouldn’t surprise me that she has built a nest somewhere! Feisty Tapper! 🙂

  6. dou dou says:

    Maybe has has a boyfriend next door?

  7. Gorgeous duck. There are a lot of mating mallards here right now…my Jack Russell would certainly like to get up close and personal. Good thing she’s always on leash.

  8. I thoroughly enjoy your bird stories, and the accompanying pictures!

  9. bahharvey says:

    That last shot is fantastic with the wing action!

  10. Daniel Hugo says:

    Juli,
    This post is really related to the 0.1% post where you said you were going to bury the rude and dismissive relatives and friends related to the saga of husband and sons illnesses. I mentioned previously the theories of Dr Kubler Ross who devided grief and loss into 5 stages and observed that they did not follow each other sequently. I forgot to mention that each stage had to be experienced and worked through otherwise one could be mired in a particular stage and remain there forever. Your feelings about the 0.1% come into the stage of “anger outwards” and when feelings of anger and resentment are buried in the subconscious, forgotten but not delt with, they remain hidden but experienced but not understood. So often hidden anger and resentment thrust into the conscious mind and are experienced as inappropriate because they are misunderstood. Wonderful to be able to review all these hidden feelings using you blog and your command of language and expression of ideas for acceptance.
    Dan

  11. bluebee says:

    Perhaps Tapper is a spy and Bubbles is an ASIO agent – The Secret Life of Ducks 😉

  12. victoriaaphotography says:

    Great set of photos Julie. I can see that you get as much pleasure out of catching these ‘bird antics’ with your camera and sharing them online (as I do).

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