Masked Duck Laurie
We know very little about the Masked Duck population here in
Barbados. This shy bird seems to appear
and disappear without warning in a small number of local swamps. Where does it go? Does it migrate to and from another country? If it does migrate, from which country does
this beautiful bird originate?
Laurie could have given us some insight into these
questions. “Who is Laurie?” you may ask.
Laurie is a female Masked Duck which was
rescued from sure death, and turned over to Dr. John Webster, host of the
television program Breakfast with the
Birds. Dr. Webster invited me to
have a close up look and to assist with recording its return to the wild with
video and stills.
On seeing Laurie, the first thing I noticed was her size. I had previously viewed, and photographed
these ducks in the wild; however I never appreciated how small these ducks
really were.
With this elusive bird in hand, we tried to have it tagged,
but were unable to locate the correct tag for its size. We also would have benefited from tracking
this bird via Satellite, but alas, none of the two options were available. The information gathered however, was timely,
especially for Dr. Webster, who was in the process of preparing a program on
the Masked Duck.
Sunday January 19, 2014 was the day of Laurie’s release. As she took to the water at The Hope Pond, she
paused a little, as if to say thank you and good bye, before swimming off to
enjoy her freedom.
I returned to the pond on January 21 to see if she was still
there, but true to their nature, Laurie, our Masked Duck was gone. Where did she go? Did she migrate off island? If so, to where? Questions we may never have answered, but
could have had, with Laurie the Masked Duck.
Below are photographs of Laurie
You can also click this link to view a short video produced for Breakfast with
the Birds with Dr. John Webster, featuring the return of Laurie the Masked
Duck to the wild.
WOW! Great blog and great photos :)
ReplyDeleteDear Mr Moore,
ReplyDeleteI saw the video of the fabulous Masked duck Laurie on youtube - it made my heart swell. Thank you and Dr Webster and others for sharing it :)
I hope you don't mind me introducing myself. This may sound odd but I've been obsessed with ducks since I was a young boy. I grew up in north east England near to Washington (George Washington's birthplace) where in 1975 Sir Peter Scott (co-founder of WWF and WWT) opened a Wildfowl Trust centre. I started working there as a weekend volunteer aged 11 years and co-organised an expedition to search and find Masked Duck in Veracruz, Mexico as a 16 year old schoolboy. I still dream of Masked Ducks!. My interest and commitment to water bird conservation has grown over the years. I now work at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust's HQ at Slimbridge in England as Head of Conservation Breeding. At present, I'm overseeing our work on Common Crane reintroduction in southwest England and our ex situ work on the critically endangered Madagascar Pochard and Spoon-billed Sandpiper.
I would dearly love to bring my family (I'm married with two sons and a daughter) to Barbados for a holiday to see Masked Duck. Please could you tell me if it would be possible to see the ducks in July or August (i.e. during the UK school holidays?).
With best wishes, yours sincerely,
Nigel Jarrett
PS - Sorry for contacting you this way. I'd have sent you and Dr Webster a private email if I'd been able to find an e-address :). My email address is nigel.jarrett@wwt.org.uk.
Hi Nigel thank you for visiting my blog i will contact you by email with the information you requested. Thank you.
ReplyDelete