Medford WI ducks need help to survive winter.
I would like to address to everybody who loves ducks and want to help them survive through winter.
First I want to tell you what ducks eat in warm season.
Ducks eat: insects, warms, roots of cattails and other plants in water, snails, snags, little frogs, duckweed, seeds and grains, small berries, fruits, nuts, mollusks, crustaceans (like crayfish), grass and weeds, aquatic plants, minnows and fish eggs, sand to provide grit that aids their digestion and may provide trace amount of critical minerals.
Canadian geese are primarily herbivores. Also sometimes they eat small insects and minnows, green vegetation, variety of grasses, grains (wheat, rice, corn), beans, aquatic plants, seaweed, roots of some plants in water, slit (powdered minerals) from water.
They have plenty of food to eat in nature in summer time, that is why I ask you: “People, please, don’t feed ducks, Canadian geese or any other birds during warm season.” You don’t do anything good for birds if you feed them in summer. They don’t need your help in summer. But by feeding you domesticate them and they will stay for winter because they have source of food. They get used to you, they think you will always come to feed them and it creates catastrophic, desperate situation in winter, because they are staying for winter and have absolutely nothing to eat. After birds become domesticated, they count on people. But when it gets cold and uncomfortable outside, people stop coming to feed ducks. This is when they need your help and support. Don’t let them freeze to death and die from cold and starvation. When birds don’t have food, their feathers stop to be waterproof and they become covered with ice and icicles and freeze to death. Please, don’t let it happen! Come and feed them in winter. In winter they can count only for people’s help. They have no other source of food. They are desperate and hungry in winter and will not survive if nobody feeds them.
In winter bring them whole corn, oats, cut nicely on little pieces apples, vegetables, chopped lettuce. In Medford Park there are ducks who stay here for generations, for decades, they don’t know they supposed to fly somewhere to survive through winter. They lost their leaders, they don’t know where to fly and why. So, they count on you in cold season time. Ducks are the most disadvantaged from all animals who stays for winter, because they are not supposed to be here. They have no place to hide from nature’s extremes. They are exposed to wind, low temperatures, rain and snow. They have feet that have to stay in water constantly when it is cold, otherwise they will have frost bite. Because of frost bite they loose fingers, feet, sometimes even the whole leg. And to survive they have to compete with healthy strong ducks for food. This is heartbreaking to see how they jump on one leg to get some food. When ducks sit on ice too long, sometimes skin between their fingers freezers to ice and when they try to move it breaks. To save their feet, come as possible closer to water to feed them, especially, in the coldest days, and make flat spot using shovel or your grains will be lost under snow.
Please, don’t put your food on pavement, because ducks poop when they eat and pavement is for people to walk. Also it will be covered with salt, which is poison for ducks, and it will be pushed by plow and become wasted. Please, don’t bring cracked corn, it is hard for ducks to pick up and they eat it with snow and salt if you put it on pavement. They spend a lot more energy picking cracked corn.
Sometimes it is possible to put corn even in water if it is impossible to feed ducks on shore and they may still find it in water. You may throw food from bridge on ice. Look for ducks, sometimes they are in several spots where water doesn’t freeze: nearby Hurd factory, under Broadway bridge or nearby Baptist Youth Center. In the coldest winter days they are mostly nearby Baptist Youth Center.
My husband and me are helping ducks to survive already during third winter and very tired and need other people help us. First winter we both were feeding on weekends and on working days my husband was feeding alone (every day). Second year mostly I was feeding and this third year I’m feeding. In any kind of weather, in the coldest days, in rain and snow. We tried not to feed ducks last winter to see may be they will fly south if they have no food. But one day we came and found about 10 ducks dead frozen in ice. That was heart-breaking view. We felt ourselves guilty that we didn’t start feeding them before.
I thought may be still there are alive people around who has heart, love animals and can sacrifice some of their money and time for poor helpless ducks who became domesticated because of people who come and feed them in summer (when they have food and don’t need to be fed), but the same people betray them and stop to come for feeding them in winter.
After ducks become domesticated, they will not become wild again. They loose their habits of flying. And these ducks in the park were domesticated by people far ago and quit to fly south. They die from no food, but don’t fly south. They will not fly only because people say:” They are supposed to fly south”. They used to fly, but they don’t fly any more. They stay for winter and die if nobody feeds them.
Winters became extremely cold especially last several winters because of climate change. Here in North Wisconsin we have now weather as it is normal for North part of Canada and for Alaska. When it is very cold duck’s beaks become covered with ice, it makes it hard for them to breeze because their noses are covered with ice and it is hard for them to eat. Sometimes huge pieces of ice freeze over to ducks body parts and it makes very hard for them to move around because of extra weight. It is heartbreaking when I see one of those ducks and they cannot fly and have to compete for food with others ducks. Ducks need to eat to have energy to stay alive in this freezing cold water. The colder is outside the more energy they loose to warm their bodies.
Who is interested in feeding ducks or giving donation to purchase corn for ducks or giving corn, please, call me: 715-748-9334 Yelena Tkachenco. Please, join me, come and feed them. They need your help. If you decided to help and feed them, please, give me a call, this way we could take turns, so it would be not such a burden for one person, also we could replace each other when we need it, we could have days off from feeding and the same time to know ducks were fed at least by one person or at least by definite amount of corn every day.
There are about 200-300 ducks. To feed this large amount of ducks I would need approximately a bag of 40-50 pound a day or more. But I can't afford to bring this big amount of corn. I can afford to bring only 10 –15 pounds a day. That is why they are still hungry even after meal - there are so many of them! I cannot feed this large amount of ducks alone! There are also ducks who are afraid to come to me when I feed them, this way only ducks who are brave and fast can get a food and those who are slow and afraid, get no food. They die if they don’t eat at all for several days. They become delirious. They stop understanding what is going on. They sit without movement and stop understanding what is going around them, where they are and that they are supposed to eat to survive. They become like a toy, they stop running away, they can go under running car, it is possible to run them over because they don’t understand what they do, you give them food, they don't understand this is food, they loose voice from cold and die may be next day after this condition happens. If it would be enough food to feed ducks who are brave and fast first, then ducks who are afraid could eat later. If more people would come and bring food (several people a day) those ducks who would eat first time would let eat those who didn't eat at all because they would be already full. So, the more people would come to feed ducks every day, the better for ducks.
Feeding in winter is allowed by city mayor and who doesn’t believe me, can give him a call and ask. “Do not feed” signs are placed for warm period only. I do not feed ducks in warm season and do not approve anyone who does, because it creates this problem.
