Sometimes nature finds two species and puts them together in unexpected ways. This is the case with an owl, who seems to have adopted a duckling as one of its own. They make an adorable pair, and one photographer managed to grab pictures of their happy home life.
Wildlife photographer told the National Geographic, “the two of them were just sitting side by side. It’s not believable. It’s not believable to me to this day.
“I don’t think I’ll ever experience anything like that in my life again.”
Wolf was initially a little worried for the duckling, as although the owl had hatched it from an egg, it is a natural predator. She was nervous that the owl would realise its error. However, she shouldn’t have worried.
“A bit later, the baby duck was in the hole by itself, calling for the parents,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “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 3 or 4 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.”
But why did the Wood Duck take its egg to the owl’s nest? Christian Artuso, director of Bird Studies Canada told the National Geographic, “it’s not commonly documented, but it certainly happens.
“You could think of it as not keeping all your eggs in one basket. If you spread your eggs out, then your chances of passing on your genes are increased slightly, especially if you lose your own eggs to a predator.
“We know this occurs, but we really don’t know the frequency, so I was happy to see another example of this.”
All the birds involved are safe and happy, and we can share these cute pictures with the world. Perhaps the pair will grow up as best friends? Who knows.
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