Help?!? Found an abandoned nest of duck eggs...?
First, the nest might not actually be abandoned. There are a number of reasons why you might not see a duck or goose sitting on the nest, or leaving it. Ducks and geese don’t spend much time sitting on their nest until all their eggs are laid. They only lay one egg a day so this can take a few days (e.g. 8 – 12). After they start to incubate, they will take ‘recesses’ from the nest to feed and rest. They also might have seen you coming and flown off without you noticing them. You should not touch the nest and leave the area completely, even if you have not seen a duck or goose around. Since ducks and geese are wary of predators, they won’t return to the nest until they are sure you are out of sight. Secondly, some times ducks or geese will lay a few eggs and abandon the nest. If the nest has been truly abandoned, artificial incubation is usually not successful. Egg embryos that have been chilled are no longer alive or are damaged. If they are on an unsafe area...First, you can try to protect the nest if it is suitable, just remember that the mother duck and ducklings that hatch have to be able to get out. If protecting the nest is not possible and only a few eggs have been laid, it is kinder to remove the eggs and nest entirely. It is likely the mother duck will leave and begin a new nest in a different (hopefully safer) spot. Moving the nest and eggs to a new location is not helpful as the mother duck will not look around for her ‘new’ nest location. IMPORTANT: Ducks and geese are protected under the Migratory Bird Act. It is illegal to gather and keep their eggs or to capture ducks, geese, ducklings or goslings. If you are in a situation where you need to rescue a nest or capture ducklings, you should take them to your closest wildlife rehabilitation center as soon as possible. Ducklings are very cute, but they require a special diet to ensure their bones and feathers develop properly. As well, they can become imprinted on humans, meaning they will never be able to be released back in to the wild. Your local wildlife rehabilitation center will know how to feed and care for them properly to ensure they can be released in to the wild when they are old enough.
What does the phrase, "the hand is worth 2 in the bush" mean?
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush means that it is better to keep what you have than to give it up and try to get something better. Example: "Dan has asked me to go to a party with him. What if my boyfriend finds out? I don't know if I should go." Reply: "Don't go. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." The thing that you already have is a bird in the hand; the things you want but don't have are two (birds) in the bush. You should not risk losing what you have by trying to get something that you don't have. Example: "I've been offered $250 for my stereo. Should I take it, or wait for a better offer?" Reply: "Take the $250. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush means that we should be happy with what we have and not risk losing it by being greedy and trying to get more. http://www.goenglish.com/ABirdInTheHandI... The things we already have are more valuable than the things we only hope to get. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_bird_in_...
Why do falcons (and other birds of prey) come back while parrots don't?
With falconry, well, it all comes down to this:You’re making a better offer to a bird that isn’t very bright.Raptors are specialists. They’re extremely good at doing raptor things: observing, intercepting, and so forth.There isn’t a lot of “extra” brain in that lovely skull for sophisticated behavior.Falconry works because you make the bird a better offer: come back here and you get a guaranteed meal.Most raptors in the wild are lucky to get one in eight attacks to result in food.Falconry birds know that returning to the falconer gets them a meal, every time. It’s the better offer.However, as I mentioned, these are not bright birds. It takes derping out (technical term) just once for them to break the relationship with the falconer. Derping out can happen from simple distraction, or a bad mood, or forgetting how to be a raptor (that pond looks nice. I’ll go be a duck for a while. Splash!).With all that in mind, my opinion is predator versus prey point of view for why raptors tend to return to a person and parrots tend not to. Food motivation aside, raptors have a “go to a specific location” focus: intercepting prey when it is detected, where it is detected. Parrots have a “go anywhere, there’s frickin’ danger here” focus: escaping predators by leaving somewhere, not going somewhere specific. Parrots aren’t interceptors by nature; their food will still be there in an hour or two.
Planting fruit trees and berry bushes in community areas could help eliminate starvation…why don’t we have food bearing trees/plants up and down every street and in every park?
Down by the river there used to be an apricot tree. When it was mature enough to start bearing fruit, kids would tear down the branches. The tree died.There is a pear tree on the corner of my street. Sometimes I get pears from it, but if I really wanted some, I would have to carry a ladder, because all of the reachable fruit has been picked, or is lying on the ground.When I was growing up, we tried to grow tomatoes in the yard. Other people in the neighborhood did that too.The “bad boys” would pick the tomatoes when they were green just so they could throw them at each other. We quit trying to grow food.The answer to your question is kids. Kids ruin it all.There is a local community garden - everything is free for the taking. Volunteers take care of it. I’ve been by there and there are tomatoes on the ground, rotting. I take care of the garden sometimes, and I get some food sometimes. Nobody seems to be much interested in it.You can’t cure starvation with tomatoes, peppers, and basil.
What does "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" mean?
Birds fly away. There's nothing special about birds in a bush, you can only look at them. But having a bird in your hand is something special. It's more special to hold one than to look at two but never touch them.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is a metaphor based on the idea that if you have a bird in your hand, it is yours. However, if you give it up and try to get two birds that are free, sitting in a bush, you will find it very difficult, if not impossible. Don't give up what you have for something that you might not get.
How can I stop birds from building nests in my bushes & not harm the bushes they are destroying everything?
Get a cat, or get litter from a friends cat, and put the litter under the bush. the cat urine smell should keep them away.
What could "one bird in the hand is better than two birds in a bush" possibly mean?
It's a metaphor. It means that actually having something is what matters, not what you plan on having, or dream of having or wanting or what you are promised. For instance, cash in your hand is better than the paycheck you are "supposed to get" next month. Nothing can be counted on as real until it's actually in your hand. And also, this particularly saying ties in with another similar one: "don't count your eggs till they hatch." The future isn't real, only the present is real and the only thing you can count on.
Why do hens and chickens have wings even though they don't fly?
Your premise is incorrect. Chickens certainly can fly to some extent, they just can’t do it nearly as well as other birds. Being able to get up onto a tree branch to escape a hungry predator (or, in the modern day equivalent, being able to get up onto the roof of the henhouse to escape a hungry fox) means that their vestigial wings still provide a survival benefit. The reason they can’t fly as well is not because their wings are any worse than they used to be, but because we humans have deliberately bred them to grow more meat on their bodies, which makes them heavier.But in any case, chickens have wings because their ancestors did. It takes millions of generations for big complicated anatomical structures such as wings to atrophy. It doesn’t happen overnight, even when they are no longer immediately useful.