Daphne, now named, has injured herself somehow. When she left her nest for her afternoon break, it was noticed that she had a decided limp in one leg. Hopefully it's something she'll recover from before her eggs hatch.
Taking particular notice of how she was walking when she returned, it was concerning. She had some difficulty settling herself down over her eggs and in the effort, pushed one egg out of the nest. I grabbed my phone to see if I'd be able to video an attempt to get it back in..she had her back to it and didn't seem to notice. Unfortunately, by the time she did and pulled it in, I wasn't ready and the egg was back in the nest where it belonged.
A little sad vignette to my duck interest...The other duck who had hatched at least a dozen babies, lost one of them to a Blue Heron. As recounted by a pool buddy, someone saw the Heron grabbing the baby and tried to chase it but it was too late. These little fuzzies are vulnerable to all sorts of birds of prey until they are sizeable enough to defend themselves. No wonder they lay so many, hopefully a few will be able to survive.
