iN VIDEO: Mother duck in Shuswap takes boatload of babies for a swim

A merganser mother duck was seen hopping off a dock and going for a swim with an enormous number of babies following behind her in Tappen Bay in the Shuswap a few days ago.

Owner of the dock, Judy Kardash, grabbed footage as the fluffy babies plopped into the water one by one and formed a long string behind the mother.

“It was pretty cute to see,” she said. 

Found in rivers, lakes and coastlines across the country, mergansers typically hatch one brood of 5 to 12 eggs per year, but are known to adopt other broods. The babies in this video appear to be of different ages.

Unlike most species of duck, merganser males don’t help raise the young ones, but unique adaptations allow the females to care for large groups, according to Birdful. 

The ducklings have a strong drive to follow their mother to water so she can lead them to food sources and don’t stray from the group. The ducks can swim fast and dive deep, allowing the swift movement of large groups to flee predators, and the mother uses special calls to guide large groups and signal danger.

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