Big Boy comes of age

I have been starting to notice for a week or so that Muscovy female Pretty Girl's spring babies have been acting more like grown ups.  We have two males in the backyard from that clutch, Big Boy and Lazlo, and they have been huffing and head bobbing with all the adult males.  And today Big Boy came of age in the backyard.  I was surprised to see him by the bird bath mating with Cutie Tips.  I actually thought both of them were too young for this sort of activity but I guess not.  It turns out that Muscovy males become sexually mature at 28 weeks of age which is just about exactly how old Big Boy is now.

Big Boy has changed a lot in appearance now, as Lazlo has, and his head is now white.  But the markings on his feet identify him as Big Boy.  Feet and beaks are good indicators of duck identity.  In any case, Big Boy was very happy after the event which seemed to go quite smoothly and which Cutie Tips appeared to be happy to participate in.

Big Boy is a big man now

Did you see what I just did?!

The overall number of Muscovies in the backyard is down.  Male Black Foot acts like the grand old man in the backyard.  He rarely exerts himself and interestingly he did not object to his son's mating today.  He used to stop any other male from doing that in his backyard.

Grand old man Black Foot.  You can see Big Boy's resemblance to him.

The Muscovy mom and babies visited the backyard this morning, just waiting by the bird bath for breakfast.  They returned later at midday and again in the evening.  One is definitely more independent and sometimes stays alone and goes places first.  This evening they all ate by the dock which is a first for them.

Feisty little guy often strikes out on his own

Dockside dining

The pigeon again came by in the evening today and got into the mix with the big ducks to score some seeds.

Quite a few mottled ducks are in the backyard now.  Every day, sometimes several times, we see the mom mottled duck, usually with her mate.  One of the mottleds has a seriously damaged leg and has a hard time getting around, falling down  lot.  I tossed him some seeds just for him.

Duckie has a boo boo