Duckling Gets Raised By An Owl And The Photos Are Adorable
Recently, artist and photographer Laurie Wolf were in her backyard in Jupiter, Florida, inspecting all the different birdhouses (also known as nesting boxes) she and her family have put together.
To her surprise, Laurie noticed a mother wood duck moving her egg.
“I’m sure the owl hatched the duck egg because she was in the box with it for a whole month,” Laurie said.
The woman got concerned that the predatory owl might eat the duck chick, so she contacted a bird expert. It turned out, Laurie was right to be fearful. One wildlife sanctuary in her area agreed to look after the duckling if Laure caught it. However, just as she attempted to capture the bird, it jumped out of the nest box and ran away to a nearby pond.
“A bit later, the baby duck was in the hole by itself, calling for the parents,” Laurie shared the update on Facebook. “We believe they heard each other because it suddenly left the box and made a beeline for the back fence and our neighbor’s pond where the woodies have been hanging out.
“Also, we had seen a female wood duck – about three or four weeks ago, remove a duck egg from a box that had been raided by something, and fly off toward this box with it.”
“We lost it in the trees and didn’t want to disturb it. But we believe she put it in this box and the owl hatched it.”
Laurie and her family haven’t seen the duckling ever since. “The pond nearby is on our neighbor’s property and is very hidden.”