This is the story of Lonesome George, who, since he is no longer lonesome, will be called Little George (LG for short - Lifes Good). We normally try not to change names once they have been previously named, but this is one of those rare cases where lonesome was his sad past, and now he has a bright and companion filled future. We received a call early last week from Dan and Kim, who told us of a Mallard drake that had been living by himself behind their condo, and using a drainpipe with moving water, for his protection. They had been feeding him grains and pellets, but some of the other residents had been feeding him (and other ducks when they were present earlier in the year) bread and crackers. PLEASE - NEVER feed wildlife, or domestic ducks and geese, bread, crackers, chips, doughnuts, etc., as they WILL eat it, become full with NO nutritional intake, and NOT eat what they were intended to eat. Thus, they will become sickly, spread it to the flock, and eventually starve to death! Now, back to the story of Little George. Dan and Kim live in Grand Haven, about 2.5 hours from the Sanctuary. After speaking with them, they offered to scoop him up and meet us about half way (thanks for the offer). Little George was apparently incapable of flying, as the rest of his entire flock that he had grown up with earlier in the summer, had long since flown away, leaving Little George to fend for himself. I assure you, had Dan and Kim not assisted in the rescue, LG, would not have made it through the harsh winter alone. His wings appear to be in pretty good order (a little frayed at some of the tips, but nothing that should prohibit flight). We are still trying to watch him in motion to see if we can detect something. One observation is the missing white ring just under his beautiful green head, something that I dont recall seeing missing on other Mallards. Perhaps it is a genetic compromise of some type. We will keep you posted on his flight condition, He had stayed in the house for the first few days so we could monitor his eating habits, and once we were satisfied that his appetite was fine, we let him out. He does however, come into the garage every night on his own and that always makes us happy, especially if their flight is restricted (for protection from predators).
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 02:16:08 +0000
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