Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Paradise Shelducks

My World.: 14 .
Paradise Shelducks



We stopped for a picnic beside a small river mouth and found this unknown lady who was camping there. (This lady was happy for me to photograph her). She was feeding this family of Paradise ducks, wild birds, really wild, not town birds used to people, I was so surprised to see that she could feed them by hand, the ducks happily took bread from her fingers and allowed her to stroke their feathers.
Paradise Shelducks are endemic, native to New Zealand, and are quite common, they are larger than the average duck almost the size of a goose, they don't quack but make a honking zonk zonk noise that is very loud. Males are predominantly black with a metallic sheen on the head, while females have a snowy white head and a dark back with rusty brown undersides, they also have some blue and brown and white feathers near there tail , juvenile females only slowly get the white head, these young female birds are just starting to grow the white feathers. Mother Paradise duck had 9 nearly full grown ducklings with her, Father was near by but didn't join in for the feed.

This is my latest posting for the My World meme . It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar,Sandy, Wren, Louise and fishing guy. Here is part of 'My World'. http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/
My World

14 comments:

EG CameraGirl said...

People all over the world seem to enjoy feeding ducks. And the ducks like it too. Cool post.

Loran said...

As a result of a trip to NZ and my daughter feeding ducks, we now own some! They are light gold in color and called Indian Runners, much more slender than their NZ cousins. Great post!

Janie said...

Nice photos of a great natural scene. The ducks and the lady seem to be enjoying themselves.

Anonymous said...

Very nice entry. Have a good week.

Indrani said...

Bird feeding can be the most stress relieving activity, you have some nice shots from your world today.

Anonymous said...

I love the ducks. There's something about feeding them, isn;t there?

Swarna said...

I wonder who had a better time at this session? the feeding hand? or the birds?
Glad you spent some time with them!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Glennis: What a fun post abut the ducks and a neat description.

Please remember to show the link bak to My World like on the last post. FG / My World team.

D Herrod said...

Very cool.

Pug1 said...

nice post! the ducks are cute! CHEERS! Michele

Reader Wil said...

Really lovely and interesting post! Could also be used fot Camera Critters on Sunday! I didn't see these birds when we were in New Zealand. They look like geese. We've got a lot of geese, swans and ducks here in Holland.

Ferran Porta said...

I'm discovering many reasons for a trip to NZ - Only it is so far from hometown Barcelona!
Greetings, Glennis.

Mozi Esme said...

It's so much fun feeding ducks - especially with kids! Pretty birds.

ShEiLa said...

Glennis,
This would be me.
The lady feeding the ducks. Ü
My family teases me about it often, I just see it as a simple pleasure.

Your blogs are quite interesting.

You seem like a wonderful person.

ToOdLeS.ShEiLa