Abandoned bird raises another: Dairy Flat, Auckland

Caryn Wilkinson Reporter from Community News

A former orphaned duckling is fostering another.

The newborn bird was rescued on Christmas Eve as it defied death darting between cars on Kumeu's Main Rd.

Ten months later, Dennis the duck is paying it forward.

The magisterial mallard has taken another abandoned creature under its wing after owner Ellie Seamons from Dairy Flat appealed for one.

A woman running an animal shelter nearby saw Seamons' post on community pages and delivered Daphne, the runt of the litter.

"Daphne was the smallest and she was the only one which needed a heat lamp," said Seamons, an early childhood teacher in Kumeu.

"If you have a smaller duckling and a lot of bigger ones, they walk all over them and beat them to the food.

"It's survival of the fittest," she said.

Seamons nursed the ailing duckling back to health with a natural powder used to treat mites and parasites.

Daphne joined Dennis' own brood of seven ducklings and thrived.

Seamons admits she earlier mistook Dennis for a male because of the duck's feisty personality.

"Dennis is quirky, bossy and bolshie. She will let you know what she wants, when she wants it, and she wants it now."

When the duck grew a second set of gender revealing feathers, Seamons realised her error.

But the name stuck.

Seamons and partner Luke Hodge found Dennis last Christmas Eve when they were driving through Kumeu bound for Helensville to drop relatives home.

Rounding a corner, they spotted a day-old duckling dodging heavy traffic.

"Luke jumped out of the truck and Dennis pretty much ran straight up to him," Seamons said.

"She (Dennis) definitely would've been a pancake within a few seconds."

With the duckling cradled in Hodge's hand, the couple scoured neighbouring paddocks and ponds in vain for the mother.

They decided to take Dennis home.

"Because it was Christmas eve, we couldn't get to a stock food place so we made her mushy peas and mashed up mixed veges to eat," she said.

Seamons and Dodge, a carpet layer, had just begun Christmas leave so they spent their three-week holiday raising Dennis at home.

"We spent every minute of the day with her," Seamons said.

"She went everywhere with us for the whole summer holidays."

They took Dennis swimming at Whitianga creeks where the couple hunted for crystals, at waterways in South Head and at the Cement Works lake in Warkworth.

Now an independent adult, Dennis swings between being a wild duck when it suits and returning home to feed whenever hunger strikes.

The duck once vanished for a week before returning home with seven new ducklings in tow.

She led her charges straight into one of Seamons' enclosures.

"A really nasty pukeko was stalking them," she said.

"Pukekos kill ducklings.

"I think Dennis knew that I'd keep her babies safe."

Pictured: Seamons' son Dayton Rata, 7, with Dennis as a duckling and today, as a fully fledged duck.