Baby Ducks at the Mirage

[Dynasty]

Spring has become my favorite season since moving to Las Vegas. The non-stop perfect weather in April and May is the primary reason.

Another reason which I first noticed a year ago is that the Mirage pond is home to many mallards who give birth to adorable little duckies every April. So, if you're in Vegas, and enjoy wildlife, you can actually see a little in the middle of this desert.

I tend to go up to the Mirage pond a couple days a week to feed the adult ducks. It was great yesterday when I first saw baby ducks walking through the grass near the sidewalk (I had been expecting them for a while now).

At present, there is just one family of four baby ducks. One of them is a bit of a badass. While his mother and three siblings swim around usually avoiding the other ducks, this one guy seems more than willing to interact with the other adult ducks and even fight with them over food. And, this baby duck can't be more than one week old.

I haven't take a camera up to the Mirage. So, here are some generic baby duck pictures.

[Michael Davis]

Dynasty,

I think you're a character in a novel and not a real human being.

-Michael

[bisonbison]

Dave and I saw these on Saturday and were both ecstatic.

Imagine a city where pigeons have been replaced by ducks. That place would be named Heaven.

[The DaveR]

bisonbison and I noticed the ducks. We also noticed that The Venetian has no pigeons. Maybe some copies are better than the original.

[Anacardo]

Dynasty,

Baby ducks are a mirage.

[Gunny Highway]

[ QUOTE ]
Imagine a city where pigeons have been replaced by ducks. That place would be named Heaven.

[/ QUOTE ]

You clearly have no idea how much bigger duck poop is than pigeon poop. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[ScottieK]

I was expecting a cool story about calling with 22 unimproved and busting a bluffer at a Vegas casino.

But this is pretty cool too. Did the Mirage bring these ducks in, or did they naturally migrate there?

ScottieK

[bisonbison]

You clearly have no idea how much bigger duck poop is than pigeon poop

Am I a street cleaner? No.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]

Did the Mirage bring these ducks in, or did they naturally migrate there?


[/ QUOTE ]

I'd guess they migrated there. In the summer and fall, there were about 12-18 adult ducks. In the past couple months, not nearly as many have been around.

Almost all the ducks will eat directly out of my hand. I can even get one of the females to jump/fly to about shoulder height to take a cracker out of my hand.

There are also some coots there too. This is a coot.

[Mrs. Utah]

Minneapolis is stocked full of ducks and Canadian geese-

I don't know that I would refer to Minneapolis as Heaven.