Isn't this one of the most ADORABLE creatures you can lay eyes on!? Today I was blessed with good luck when I went to check on our Musk Duck nest and found the eggs hatching. I recorded some footage of the first chick pipping out of it's egg, then left a miniature video camera recording to monitor what happened. When I returned 2 hours later, I was thrilled to find I'd captured the whole event on film!
You can see in the above picture that this ducking, only hours out if its egg, still has a clearly visible egg tooth at the end of its bill. This is a unique feature of all birds and is needed to crack through the shell, then is shed a few days after the young emerge.
The short film 'A Hatching Success' can be viewed below:
A Hatching Success from Simon Cherriman on Vimeo.
Hi Simon. I haven't seen them either. The father Musk duck is still happily living at the lake but no sign of any others this year. He is my favorite lake bird.
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