Photo By Kevin Krejcarek | This is the enclosed courtyard where the pond is located.... read more read more
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CAMP ZAMA, Japan – As military and civilian workers came to work May 6 to start a new work week, they were greeted by a flock of 10 ducklings in the enclosed courtyard pond at U.S. Army Japan and I Corps (Forward) headquarters building 101 here.
The hen had been nesting in a thicket of bushes on the edge of a small pond watching over her clutch of eggs. When they made their debut, the little featured wonders hung closely to their mother swimming around the pond. With windows surrounding most of the courtyard, people began watching their first days in the open with great anticipation. Even some of the toughest and seasoned soldiers became softies watching these feathered ducklings move along the water trailing their mother.
While constantly being watched by those passing by the courtyard windows, the mother was constantly vigil maintaining a constant watch over her brood. If she thought some gawkers were a little too close, she would casually increase the distance from them. She never squawked, but did issue soft direction to her offspring even when teaching them various lessons as all mothers do.
The ducks first appeared in the courtyard in 2006 when, as the story goes from some of the Japanese local national civilian employees working here, that they were found wondering in a less than desirable location within the branch wings of the building. Without water or a good nesting area, they were kindly introduced into their present and relatively safe surroundings. As they grew that first year, the Directorate of Public Works sent a team to relocate them to a nearby lake within the confines of the installation’s golf course.
The following year, the hen chose the closed confines of building 101 as home and they’ve been nesting here since.
Maj. Kari Olson, the branch chief of Zama’s veterinary services, stopped by to check out the babies.
“They appear to be very healthy,” she declared. “Being that they are wild animals and don’t want you to handle them, there are ways to tell if they are sick. I look at their feathers and make sure they are pruning them, cleaning them, and that they do not have areas of feather loss.”
With a good bill of health, Olson did comment on the nesting area.
“She [the hen] has a great little set-up where she can raise her babies without all the worry that comes with the open environment.”
According to some of the Japanese employees, about two weeks after the ducklings were skirting around the water one duckling became the target of a marauding raven inhabiting the surrounding area. According to them, it was perched on the second story roof edge looking at its prey before swooping down and plucking the duckling from its habitat.
This was not the first loss of a duckling.
I remembered that nine baby ducks were born last year and two of them died during a typhoon," said Etsumi Hirabayashi who works in the USARJ headquarters building.
“Every year the baby ducks leave here first and then the mother always remains,” said Shinya Mori, who worked in the building from July 2009 until 2012. About mid-June, the mother left the area and did not return. Mori was surprised to hear that news.
They are well fed at building 101.
Marvin Perkins has been feeding them each afternoon.
“We actually feed them chicken feed,” he said. “It’s basically ground up corn,” he added, which he buys at a local home center.
Eventually children grow up and leave the nest. On the last weekend of June four of the now fully grown ducks, which are in the Anatidae family of birds which include swans and geese, took flight leaving five brothers and sisters behind.
According to those who have watched them over the years, they agree that they are usually gone by the July 4. And the five remaining ducks are expected to follow their siblings soon.
Just as the historic Peabody Ducks at the famous Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tenn., are a tradition, the Ducks of Zama 101 have now become part of U.S. Army Japan tradition and have a home here.
| Date Taken: | 07.03.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 07.03.2013 02:51 |
| Story ID: | 109668 |
| Location: | CAMP ZAMA, KANAGAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 169 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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