Baby Bird Diary's First Entry!

Hello, and welcome to the Baby Bird Diary. Here I will attempt to document the weekly happenings of the young waterfowl at two duckponds I like to visit.

I began this project after weeks of vague consideration, inspired by some photos I took of the three groups of baby birds I watched grow up over a period of six-eight weeks. These were the now-named Midlings, three moorhen chicks inhabiting the large, main pond occupied by most of the waterfowl; the two wood ducklings, young of wood ducks Tabitha and Pompadour who grazed around the same pond; and the Snuggleducks, two Pacific black ducklings trapped by high walls and a lowered water level in their own smaller pond but growing just fine.

In fact, concern about the Snuggleducks’ survival initially prompted my boyfriend Mantichora and me to check up on them (the pond provided them with plenty of food, sun and shade and protection). Then the relaxing time the park held for us, where we could enjoy the fresh air and relax on the grass while watching the wildlife, plus the charm of the baby birds, drew us back. Okay, mostly me. And mostly because of the baby birds.

The photos I took that day were a reminder of how quickly the baby birds grow, since they never looked the same the next week. By the time I got back to the pond having remembered to get new batteries for the camera, then new batteries that worked, then remembered to bring said camera, the Snuggleducks, Midlings and wood ducklings were nearly grown. I realised I should have started such a project when I could document their growth (and survival) from the earliest stages, and decided to wait until the next breeding season, assuming I was still interested by then.

That was about when Mantichora pointed out something to me in the main pond. Or rather, four little things. Tiny baby moorhens! Since we had last visited only two days before, we knew these birds were newly hatched. We named them the Cutiechicks, and since there were now two sets of moorhen chicks, we named the older ones the Midlings. It was so fascinating, watching them follow the adults around, cheeping, and they were fed by both the adults and the Midlings! Fluffy little things gave me the perfect opportunity to start this blog I'd been putting off.
And thus the Baby Bird Diary began.