Many moons ago, VINS Wildlife Services took in several clutches of young, orphaned wood ducklings. Okay, it wasn’t many moons ago — more like 2 months ago — but with the countless buckets of duck weed we’ve gone through and loads upon loads of towels we’ve laundered, it sure does seem like ages ago since we first took in the little woodies.
Just last week, we had the pleasure of seeing these almost-fully-grown-up ducks head out into the real world. We released the wood ducks together in one large group. While initially the groups were separated while young — since some were older and therefore larger than others — their last few weeks were spent together in our outdoor songbird aviary. True, wood ducks certainly aren’t songbirds, but the aviary provided the group of 10 with space for a kiddie pool and ample room to roam around. VINS staff members Audrey Gossett and Ian Miyashiro released the ducks at a large pond surrounded by forest — great wood duck habitat!
