A duck nest in July

Our weeding team came across this mallard (or a hybrid variant) duck nest of fourteen eggs. Birds that have the most breeding success in a predator environment have evolved to have either large clutches or nest several times in a season or both. This ensures they maintain or increase their population. Because our New Zealand indigenous species did not evolve with predators, or very low predation, their nesting frequency and number of eggs per clutch tends to be smaller. This, with other environmental pressures, all to often puts our indigenous species into the “at - risk / declining” in the DoC category. The biggest threat to this duck brood would be hedgehogs, pukeko and domestic cats.