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One of the young hen ducks at Critter Creek started laying her eggs in random spots on the gravel driveway and abandoning them. I found four such eggs last June and decided to see if they could be incubated. After 28 days, one egg (the fourth one I found) hatched. And so, here are three photographs of "Quatro" of Critter Creek -- one at 15 minutes after hatching, one after one week, and one after three weeks (the last one taken yesterday):
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/quatrohatchling.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/QuatroatOneWeek.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/QuatroLeftSide.jpg)
I used to be an avid duck hunter. Now here I am hatching one from an abandoned egg. Lo, how the mighty are fallen! ::)
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Richard, How long did you have to sit on that egg? Does he call you mama? ;D ;D Dan
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Dan:
It took 28 days, and I'm trying to teach him to call me "Sir." ;)
I carried those four eggs back and forth to the Gatlinburg cabin and once even to Center Hill Lake near Nashville, always with the incubator in the back of the SUV. You can't imagine the ribbing I took from my dearly beloved, my ribald friends, and every member of my family except my older daughter . . . or the surprise on all their faces when the fourth egg actually hatched. I'm now known as "the Duck Whisperer."
An here's the drake which I believe to be "Quatro's" father:
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/kingofthehillatcrittercreek_1.jpg)
Life at Critter Creek is a real soap opera at times. ;D
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Richard, congrats on the addition to the family. Hunting ducks and raising them go hand in hand. It shows that you care about their future and a good meal. ;) :D Try to get one of papa's curved tail feathers to sport in your hat. Tom
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Richard, I am sure that Quatro will be calling you Sir in no time. There is nothing better than nuturing life and watching it flourish. Dan
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Update: "Quatro of Critter Creek" at four months -- and spoiled rotten:
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/quatroofcrittercreek10-08-1.jpg)
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what a different color pattern. Did you have anything to do with that? Tom
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Tom:
It has been said by some of those near and dear to my heart that I am probably responsible for Quatro's "attitude" (here read "arrogance"), but his coloration is a mystery. Lord only knows what genetic hodgepodge was passed along in that hybrid hen's DNA. It would appear, though, that the Mallard drake lacks prepotency when it comes to stamping his colors on his offspring.
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Looks like Quatro landed in Duck Heaven. He looks well fed and I believe he is smiling. Dan
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Dan:
The young man holding Quatro in the photograph is a local 4-H Club member whose family operates a working farm in our county with two ponds and a number of ducks and geese. The boy has literally adopted Quatro and made a special pet out of him. I'm told that Quatro follows the boy around the farm like a puppy, that the two of them go swimming together in the family's swimming pool, that Quatro lives in a special "duck house" which has been constructed in the basement of the home, and that the two of them even watch television together while sharing popcorn.
Yes, it does indeed sound like duck heaven. I've seen the famous ducks at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, and they don't have it half as good as Quatro does.
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another happy ending to a fairy tale ;) ;D ::) Tom
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More on the life and times of Quatro of Critter Creek:
Swimming Lessons --
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/quatroofcrittercreekswimminglessons.jpg)
Seasons Greetings --
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/quatroofcrittercreekchristmas20084.jpg)
This duck has it made!
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Richard, what cool duck. can he be used for gun dog training? ;) :D Tom
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Tom:
I'm told that, with some muscled reinforcement from Quatro's current owner, all four dogs on the family farm have now been trained to realize that messing with this particular duck is generally hazardous to canine health and well being. ;D
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sound advice. Tom
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This Critter Creek stuff must be catching. I live in Waterford, MI. - about 30 miles north & west of Detroit. It's suburban, but definitely not out in the sticks. I've often seen rabbit tracks in the snow when I retrieve the morning newspaper.
But this afternoon, just before sundown, I happened to look out thru the dining room doorwall into our back yard in time to see a doe run by, followed by another, another, and a fourth. I'm going to leave my camera on the dining room table.
Steve
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Steve:
Critter Creek has become my version of Walden Pond -- where I travel much while moving little. After spending my life bouncing around the planet and spending more time than I care to remember in some places which God seemed to have forgotten, I have now stopped (literally) to enjoy my surroundings:
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/seasonchangeatcrittercreek.jpg)
It sounds as if you have a little piece of paradise there of your own. Enjoy it!
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Richard, It's good to see that you dropped anchor, as our friend tracker would say. Cool spot, how is that drake doing? Tom
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Tom:
The drake took the hens and flew south for the winter. I expect them back around May. And the hummingbirds return in June. Until then, its just eagles, hawks, redbirds, deer, racoons, and possums. The bears have gone to den. 8)
Edit: And, of course, the neighbor's pet burros down the road still come up when we're here to mooch carrots and sugar cubes:
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/apr1725.jpg)
:)
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I'm so happy that an "old" warrior ;) has found his bit of heaven. It's time to put your feet up, refill your favorite drink, maybe light a Cuban and watch the wildlife do their thing, no I'm not talking about the judge, :D just the rest of the animals on and around the pond. ENJOY Tom
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Tom:
In your honor, I'll break out the "18." Cheers, my friend! 8)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/Glenfiddich.jpg)
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Richard, I'll sit and drink with you anytime. mmmmm Tom
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Critter Creek Duck Update:
(1) I am told that "Quatro" has laid an egg, apparently not fertilized but an egg nonetheless. "It" is now confirmed as a "she." I am also informed that she now has a new duck house with private pool and that her adoptive owner is preparing to show her at the local 4-H Club fair. ;D
(2) A pair of wood ducks were checking out the large pond at Critter Creek last weekend as if they were considering building a nest nearby. (And there I was having left my camera in the cabin. :( )
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I just found this string and these are great pictures. I am not a hunter but I respect those that legally do so within parameters.
Ducks are safe with me as they are cute and they don't taste good. Chickens, by contrast, are dead meat.
My bird feeder has been over taken by a red squirrel. I have been boycotting refill for 3 days in the hope he will go away. I have had 18 species this spring including an Evening Grosbeak.
How about "Quatro Multi-Colored R9 Grips"? Anything but G10 and I'm there.
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ACP:
We don't have any red squirrels at Critter Creek, but grey squirrels . . . how many could you take? (No charge for shipping and handling.) ;D
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/crittercreeksquirrelmafia.jpg)
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Richard,
I am a native of New Jersey where grey squirrels are plentiful. I now live in a quiet town in Vermont where red squirrels prevail and grey squirrels do not exist (or, are unseen).
My town has a population of 600 humans and 725 red squirrels. I will gladly pay shipping charges for carbon fiber grips but you may keep grey squirrels.
My ex-wife (bless her) brought me to Vermont years ago and I managed to move here after a complicated story. I love living in the country and do not miss the impossible traffic, malls and corruption of New Jersey. And, I REALLY do not miss the horrible gun laws in New Jersey.
I have to say that Critter Creek is like a warm saga, in this forum, and I urge you to keep us posted.
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Richard,
I really enjoy the pictures, and anecdotes from "Critter Creek".
Thanks,
Rick
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Thank you, gentlemen.
As I enter my seventh decade after a lifetime of chasing the golden ring and seeking the adrenalin rush, I have finally come to understand what Thoreau meant when he wrote:
[size=10]"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."[/size]
I have traveled throughout the world, but never so far as I have been able to travel at that little place in the woods called "Critter Creek."
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/Mar1338.jpg)
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Well stated. I don't own a camera but enjoy the benefit of those who do.
I am proud to relate a critter story from this morning:
A wild turkey flew from the safety of a road on top of "Terrible Mountain" (near Ludlow, Vermont), onto the pavement directly in front of my truck. By careful application of horn, brakes and steering the turkey was spared to live another day.
There is a biological theory about brain size to body mass as an intelligence indicator and it is my belief that the wild turkey is elegible to run for congress. How bad of a job could he do?
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Richard! Really enjoying the pictures. Reminds me of High Falls, Ga. where we have a place.
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I was at High Falls today! Weird hugh. I live about 30 min from the falls.
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That is amazing! We are about a half a minute from the Falls.
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ACP,
Unfortunately, we already have enough turkeys in Congress but
the wild turkey is overqualified for the hill: their vision is 50 times
greater than a human. Judging by some of the latest antics the
average vision in Congress is blind.
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Tracker
And to think Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey as our national bird. This beats the vulture, which appears to be the new administration's national bird.