They Won't Follow Mom into the Pond

Jack Johnson is a Delta student working in the prairies of South Dakota. He often sees this parasitism of upland nests.

For dabbling ducks, it is too dangerous to walk in the grass to find a host nest. Pheasants make their living walking in the grass and parasitize often, but sometimes the wrong host.

The hen Blue-wing (the 11 light tan eggs) that owns this nest will hatch some of 6 parasitic pheasant eggs, which are likely from two different hens – note 3 greenish and 3 brownish pheasant eggs.

But it is very unlikely that any of the pheasant chicks will survive – they won’t follow their surrogate mom into water and they need brooding to stay alive.

-Frank