Did you know that SAES has a courtyard (outside of the Library) that has a pond?  

That pond attracts many different species of birds every year.  Some of those birds even nest in the courtyard.   One of the more interesting birds to nest there are Mallard Ducks!  In the spring of most years, we have a mating pair who nest, hatch, and raise their ducklings in our courtyard!  The spring of 2024 is no exception.  The pair was first seen on March 22 when the male and female were looking for a place to build the nest.  Once they have found a good spot, the female lays her eggs and will then sit on (incubate) her "clutch" of eggs until they hatch.  The female will usually sit on her eggs for about 28 days.   Depending on how many eggs she has and when she started laying WE SHOULD SEE HATCHLINGS AROUND THE LAST WEEK OF APRIL!

Frequently asked questions about the ducks and ducklings:

When will the ducklings be here?

We are in the window BUT I don’t think they are here yet.

why aren’t they here yet?

Evidently, it isn’t time yet. (SEE BELOW)

When do you think they will be here?

Well, that is difficult to explain but I’ll give it a shot.

We first saw the male and female on March 22.  That doesn’t mean that March 22 was the first day they were here and it also doesn’t mean that they started nesting on that day nor does it mean that she started laying on that day.  Ducks lay one egg per day.  IF she started laying one egg per day on March 22 and she has 8 eggs… (we have seen 8 eggs on the camera – but there could be more).  March 22 plus one day per egg takes us to March 30-31.  Then she would start to incubate her eggs.  Incubation generally takes 28 days from the day of the last egg. So March 31 plus 28 days of incubation would take us to about April 28.  If we are correct about when she started sitting on her eggs!

BUT…

IF she didn’t start to lay on March 22…and waited a few days…and IF she had more than 8 eggs (There COULD be and probably are more than 8 eggs)…that would push the due date back a day for each extra egg and a day for each day that it took her to start laying past March 22.

SO…

If she had 8 eggs and started laying on March 22 the first day we could have seen ducklings would have been April 28.

If she has more than 8 eggs and didn’t start laying on March 22 it will be later.

When is the latest date that we could see ducklings?

Monday, May 3  or Tuesday, May 4 are probably the later dates, but we are working with a lot of unknowns.  They will hatch when they should hatch.  Until then…we wait.

Stay tuned!