California farmers are now collecting the eggs of mallard ducks that nest in their fields

[Liberal_in_LA]

Valley farmers save 50,000 ducks with help from Cal Waterfowl

While harvesting 350 acres of wheat, farmer Deke Dormer collected 819 eggs in his field. The eggs were then placed in egg cartons, taken to incubators for hatching, and will be returned to wetlands when the ducklings are old enough to survive on their own.










It is part of an egg-salvage program that has saved 50,000 eggs in the past 10 years from mallard ducks that have nested on active farms. The photo gallery shows how the program works in the field — the video below details it from start to finish, and includes the release of one of the crops of this year’s hatch.

“We know it’s best for ducks to raise their own ducklings,” said Holly Heyser of the California Waterfowl Association, which sponsors the program. “But this is the best thing we can do to give ducklings in active farm fields a second chance to live.”

Because of drought, the local mallard breeding population this year is the lowest on record, down 27 percent compared to last year, and half of the long-term average. Most mallards in California are born and raised in the Sacramento Valley and Klamath Basin. The drought means fewer wetlands and far less breeding opportunities than past years.

Mallards need dry habitat with dense cover for their nests, and water nearby where they can take their hatchlings. Fields of wheat, rye, barley and hay lined by irrigation ditches can thus look perfect. But at harvest time, the combines can crush nests and eggs. At the minimum, with the cover gone, the nests are left exposed to predators.
http://blog.sfgate.com/stienstra/2015/07/11/valley-farmers-save-50000-ducks-with-help-from-cal-waterfowl-pics-and-video/

[libdem4life]

1. This is awesome.

[pinto]

2. +1

[GoCubsGo]

3. Phew!!!

When I saw the headline, I thought for sure the eggs were being collected to sell off to be eaten. Glad to hear they're doing right by the ducks.

[cui bono]

6. I thought the same, that maybe it was because the ducks were a nuisance.

I wonder if the mamas are sad though.

[passiveporcupine]

4. I don't know how they spot the nests, but

this is just awesome!

[daleanime]

7. Probably when desperate parent....

takes off at the last minute.

[csziggy]

8. The photo captions at the article say that the hens stay on the nest

Until the combine is almost at it.

The caption for the photo in the OP where the farmer is stooping to pick up the eggs: "When a mallard flies out of the nest, farmer Deke Dormer will stop the harvest, climb down and search for the nest and eggs."

[eggplant]

5. Squeee! n/t

[Enthusiast]

9. Ducks are just so damned cute. Why?

Is their cuteness some sort of evolutionary advantage?

[BrotherIvan]

11. Haha that's a good question!

[MattBaggins]

12. Since their cuteness exists only in your head... no

Why do we find puppies cute but spiders not so much?
Bunnies cute... slime molds icky.

The concept of cuteness is in the human mind not something inherent in the object.

[Enthusiast]

13. In the meantime ducks remain cute.

[7962]

32. Thank you for injecting some reality back into the thread. Sheesh!

[Orrex]

19. That's cute!

[fasttense]

23. Actually there have been some studies done indicating that baby mammals give off pheremones

that make adults fall in love with them. Of course if you aren't around the baby all the time, you don't fall in love you merely think they are adorable. It may apply to ducks, or humans may just generalize to all baby animals.

[jmowreader]

14. They're not ALWAYS cute

http://www.hetnatuurhistorisch.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/documents-nmr/Persberichten/Persberichten/persberichten_2013/DSA8_243-248.pdf

[Enthusiast]

15. I will happily ignore this aberration.

[erronis]

20. Apparently we (all species) are wired to view the young'uns as cute

There's something about the stub nose, broad eyes for mammals. I guess there's something also for birds and other little critters.

Not to say that there aren't lots of vermin (humans included) who think youngsters are particularly delectable (think veal.)

[brett_jv]

36. Pretty obvious evolutionary advantage ...

Considering that rearing of young introduces a ton of hardship & fear & danger to an adult animal, if little one's weren't seen as 'cute' (maybe a bit anthropomorphic to call it that, but I'd bet the 'general concept' exists WAY down food chain, esp. in mammals) by their mothers, a heck of a lot more of 'em would've been abandoned. Which would in turn potentially lead a species to become extinct.

IOW, the creatures that are 'still around these days' come from a long, long line of creatures that found their young-uns 'cute' ... at least, in some sense of the word.

[progressoid]

21. Perhaps it's the corkscrew penis and vagina?

[Enthusiast]

22. Who knew? But the penis doesn't contribute to the cuteness.

[SusanCalvin]

10. This is how things should be. nt

[TygrBright]

16. Every one o' these farmers should get a freebie copy of "Make Way for Ducklings"

To give to a young family member.

appreciatively,
Bright

[kath]

17. Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack...

I forget just how many ducklings there were...

[Starry Messenger]

18. Got to love our state.

[calimary]

24. THIS^^^^^!!!

[Hekate]

25. KnR

[Warpy]

26. Totally not what I thought this would be

Many thanks to the farmers who do this work. Survival rates of these eggs are likely higher than those laid in natural grasslands. It's just kind of a shame they won't get to see Mama Mallard leading a column of ducklings out of the field when the eggs hatch. Likely the hullabaloo caused her to abandon the nest.

[jtuck004]

28. On the other hand, the farmer can't go anywhere without 1400 baby ducks following. <G> n/t

[LynneSin]

27. On the DU home page on my IPad the headline stopped at 'collected eggs'

i had this fear that with the egg shortage we were soon going to be eating mallard eggs. Glad I clicked on the link to read the article!

[ThingsGottaChange]

29. Wonderful!

[OldRedneck]

30. Every farmer I know . . .

I live in a rural area of Virgina where the farmers raise wheat, barley, corn, and soybeans. Every farmer I know cares deeply for the land and the critters on it. Yes, they hunt deer and wild turkey but they stay within bag limits and report anyone hunting out of season, spotlighing deer, or otherwise destroying the critters. Around here, we stop, get out of the truck, and move turtles out of the road -- snakes, too.

[hopemountain]

31. the california waterfowl association's

state their objective is to conserve waterfowl, wetlands, and their HUNTING HERITAGE.

dated a guy who worked for them and he said the membership are primarily hunters. so, fly little ducks fly away!

shot guns and hunting gear all over their web pages.

http://www.calwaterfowl.org

i'm sorry to be the bearer of this terrible news. corporations have become very smart at marketing their deceptive agendas. same with all wildlife. dig deep.

[7962]

33. But the only reason we have as many deer as we have in Ga.

is because of the hunters.

[hopemountain]

38. ????

what does hunting deer have to do with feigning saving waterfowl when the real purpose is to provide sport?
the obuscation of the real purpose of the association and having farmers run around "saving" mallards for sport is my point. not hunting. the deception is foul.

[7962]

39. The point is that without their effort to save them, the population could dwindle

And its possible that it could end up small enough to go away completely. So if the population increases a lot just because hunting is involved, so be it. Its better to have them around even if some are hunted than to have them disappear.

You know you could've used "fowl" in your last sentence and it would have been PERFECT!!

[hopemountain]

42. foul vs fowl

i wrote what i meant and i meant what i wrote.

[Snobblevitch]

34. I hate to be the bearer of bad news,

but ducklings need to be taught by the mama diluck about how to survive in the wild. Ducksling also imprint upon whatever it is that they see when they are quite young. Most of these ducklings will not likely survive too long in the wild.

[Le Taz Hot]

35. I was holding my breath expecting to read one more

"let's trash the San Joaquin Valley farmers" thread that appears so often on this board. Thank you for your positive thread and squeeee at the baby ducks.

We have geese that fly onto the elementary school lawn in my neighborhood to eat I-have-no-idea-what but there's usually 30 or 40 of them most mornings. Even when the kids are out on the playground the kids know to just leave them alone and let them do their thing.

[TlalocW]

37. I'd take them to the incubator

Get them hatched then put them all on my neighbor's yard in the middle of the night.

Just kidding. This was cool.

TlalocW

[Zorra]

40. How do the babies imprint in order to live in the wild, if mom is not there?

Was there any mention of this?

[Liberal_in_LA]

41. web page says that they are experts are hand rearing waterfowl... I guess they have it figured out

http://www.calwaterfowl.org/waterfowl-programs-eggsalvage

[flamingdem]

43. Hooray for CA