General News
2 August, 2024
Lamplough ducks share their egg-sitting roles
A farm on the outskirts of Avoca has become home to an intriguing duck-scovery that has left enthusiasts, and its owner, captivated.
Resident Jason Whitehall has always been fascinated with birds, working at the now-closed Monbulk Animal Kingdom for over six years and completing a diploma in conservation and land management, sustainability as well as a bachelor of environmental science.
Since purchasing his farm in Lamplough nearly eight years ago, it has become home to many horses, birds and poultry, with two Muscovy ducks, originally a wild bird from Central/South America, recently added.
“I got them nearly three months ago and I didn’t know if I was going to keep them or not, because I have been told that they breed like rabbits and that the ducklings are indepen-dent in two or three days of hatching and are escape artists,” he said.
“I have never had Muscovy ducks before so I started reading about them and understand that the females have a ridge down the middle of their nose and have a shorter beak and the males have a longer, more elongated beak like a platypus.”
Soon after taking the ducks, the female, named Alexandria started to lay eggs, but much to Mr Whitehall’s amazement, the male, named Hadrian, began to sit on the eggs, something which is very rare with females commonly being sole protectors.
“Nobody really knows why it is happening or has an explanation— I have sent photos to registered Muscovy duck breeders and they were like ‘that’s a male, and why is it sitting on eggs’, and I’m like ‘you tell me’,” Mr Whitehall said.
“It’s only really been about a week that I have been putting it on my Facebook bird support group which has over 900 members and now people are starting to go ‘that’s not normal, maybe we should follow this’.”
While everyone seems unsure what Hadrian and Alexandria will do next, Mr Whitehall said he is leaning towards keeping them around.
“I’m still making up my mind if I want to keep them, I think I do want to keep them because they might be famous now,” he said.