How We Made Our Backyard Pond Safer for Ducklings
First, some helpful characteristics our pond already had:
We’ve lived here for four years, and almost every summer we’ve seen ducklings. The adult females and males frequent our pond that already has:
A working water fountain that runs 24/7
A gradual, shallow edge that is easy to walk in and out of
Plenty of vegetation for feeding
Tall grasses and some undisturbed woods along one side
No pike or other predator fish in the pond
We believe these things make our pond attractive, but what was stumping us is that we never saw the ducklings for longer than a week.
One night we noticed a raccoon stalking the edge while the ducklings were swimming (talk about a tense National Geographic-esque moment), and we’ve also seen foxes near the edge. We started to wonder if the ducklings were lacking a safe place to rest and get away from land predators.
Solution: We Placed A Floating Foam “Rock” In the Middle of the Pond for Safety from Land Predators
We read that having a stationary spot in the middle of the water is often the key to providing a resting spot and safety from land predators. We toyed with the idea of finding a big enough boulder to put in the middle of the pond, but our pond is over 8ft deep, so that would have to be a pretty big boulder. Instead, we found these floating rocks at Universal Rocks and decided to give one a try.
July 5th, 2021: The first day we spotted new ducklings, and ironically, the same day our floating “duck rock” arrived.
We still can’t believe that the timing worked this way, but the arrival of our duck rock via UPS was the same day our female mallard duck surprised us with a brand new team of ducklings. We needed to secure two ends of the floating rock with rope and anchors, and we were hesitant that we might disturb the ducklings while we tromped around the edge of the pond. A few hours after we secured the rock, I looked outside and couldn’t believe my eyes: not only were mama and ducklings back out, but they were ON the rock and resting!
July 5th, 2021: New ducklings resting safely on our newly floating “duck rock”.
July 14th, 2021: Preening time!
July 14th, 2021: Settling in for the night.
The duck rock quickly became a new pond favorite, with mama and ducklings out there every morning and night, and often in the afternoon for a rest. We watched them preen, sleep, and take small breaks. As we counted the days, we started realizing that this was the longest we had seen a little team of ducklings stay (or live) at our pond.
We also noticed that the ducklings weren’t the only ones who wanted a spot on the “rock”. Our Great Blue Heron wanted the coveted spot for fishing.
July 14th, 2021: Our Great Blue Heron claims the rock for some afternoon fishing.
Weeks went by while we got a front-row seat watching the ducklings get stronger and grow their feathers. This quickly became the highlight of my summer mornings and evenings! I’d poor bring my coffee or a drink out on the deck to watch for the ducklings, and they were almost always around.
July 26, 2021: Taking a break and hanging out.
July 30th, 2021: Testing out those wings!
August 9th, 2021: Our last photo of everyone all together!
September 27th: We think, due to the head markings, that this was one of our ducklings coming back to home base.
October 20th, 2021: Our Female Belted Kingfisher checks out the rock.
It’s hard to know for sure, but the duck rock seemed to contribute to raising a successful team of ducklings, from just weeks old to the time they were ready to fly. We’re really excited to put the rock back in the pond this spring to see what happens!