With spring well underway, some Newmarket residents are noticing some new neighbours moving into the neighbourhood.
For Mike Goyette, this is the second year in a row a mother duck has started nesting by his house, which backs onto water in the College Manor area.
After some time up north last spring, he returned home to find his porch covered in duck poop. He then noticed a duck showing up in his yard and his dog began sniffing around the bushes.
“I just peeked behind the bush one day and she was lodged between the hedge and the wall,” Goyette said.
He became interested in the mother duck — whom he named Dana — and her nest, so he decided to keep watch of the process.
“I got a little interested in it, so I got a camera and I plugged it in and I videoed it,” he said.
He got footage of the mother duck, as well as the babies popping their heads up and running around once they had hatched.
He posted the footage in a local community Facebook group and said people were always really interested and excited to see the babies.
Now Goyette said Dana has returned to build her nest in the exact same spot again this season.
He said he learned a lot about ducks last year, so he knew they often return to nest in the same place, but as an animal lover, he feels happy they chose his home.
“I was really lucky when this happened, that I got to have her right at our house,” he said.
Last year, the eggs were hatched and when they were ready, the babies followed Dana back to the river but Goyette said he knows that’s not guaranteed.
“It’s really common that a raccoon will get them, so for them to make the whole gestation period and to go through the whole process and finally be hatched and be safe and leave with mom, that’s a big deal because a lot of them get eaten,” he said.
While he’s hopeful they will be safe again this year, all he can do is wait and watch. Goyette said he plans to set up the duck cam again and hopes to see more baby ducks this spring.
