the CAYUGA NEST legend
I was about 30 years old, and in my prime. And I had itchy feet wanting to design and build my own home. My wife and I also wanted to live on the river Thames. For certain, I would never be able to buy such a property with my income!
Finally in 1963, we found the ideal plot of land in the Village of Wraysbury Berkshire in England, on the river Thames about 5 miles from Windsor Castle. So I set about persuading my bank manager to lend me enough money to both buy the land and cover the building costs. That proved to be an incredibly difficult task. But we won in the end.
And in January 1964, the first sod was cut, and building commenced. By early spring, the foundations were completed and building materials were shipped in to commence the structure. But then it happened.
A friendly duck made a nest smack in the middle of all the building materials. We reluctantly decided to hold up the work till the eggs were hatched. Fortunately, ducks and their ducklings leave the nest as soon as they are born. So we only had to wait for the gestation period of 21 days.
Now this duck was black with a white breast. Also I should point out that in this village, houses did not have numbers; they had names. And we needed a name for our new house!
My friend Peter a bit of a twitcher suggested we find the name of this particular duck and give that name to the house. It was taking weeks to find this. In those days there was no WWW where you could put in the key phrase "black duck with white breast" and get 3 million references found in 3.8 secs! But finally found a reference in the book "Collins Guide to Bird Watching" by R. S. Fitter. Pub: 1963 by Collins.
To quote: "A more widespread pitfall for the unwary is the so called Cayuga duck, a white breasted domesticated variety of the mallard, which escapes and often consorts with wild mallards in town parks and on reservoirs, probably interbreeding with them."
In retrospect, I should have been alerted to the domestic reference, but was far too busy working for a living, building a house and raising two kids! So there is a possibility that that particular lady was not a relation of the Cayuga duck. I have learned since, that the true breed, although black with a greenish tinge, does not have a white breast. And I have now seen the genuine Cayuga ducks at Folly Farm near Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire. Nevertheless we were happy.
Finally in 1963, we found the ideal plot of land in the Village of Wraysbury Berkshire in England, on the river Thames about 5 miles from Windsor Castle. So I set about persuading my bank manager to lend me enough money to both buy the land and cover the building costs. That proved to be an incredibly difficult task. But we won in the end.
And in January 1964, the first sod was cut, and building commenced. By early spring, the foundations were completed and building materials were shipped in to commence the structure. But then it happened.
A friendly duck made a nest smack in the middle of all the building materials. We reluctantly decided to hold up the work till the eggs were hatched. Fortunately, ducks and their ducklings leave the nest as soon as they are born. So we only had to wait for the gestation period of 21 days.
Now this duck was black with a white breast. Also I should point out that in this village, houses did not have numbers; they had names. And we needed a name for our new house!
My friend Peter a bit of a twitcher suggested we find the name of this particular duck and give that name to the house. It was taking weeks to find this. In those days there was no WWW where you could put in the key phrase "black duck with white breast" and get 3 million references found in 3.8 secs! But finally found a reference in the book "Collins Guide to Bird Watching" by R. S. Fitter. Pub: 1963 by Collins.
To quote: "A more widespread pitfall for the unwary is the so called Cayuga duck, a white breasted domesticated variety of the mallard, which escapes and often consorts with wild mallards in town parks and on reservoirs, probably interbreeding with them."
In retrospect, I should have been alerted to the domestic reference, but was far too busy working for a living, building a house and raising two kids! So there is a possibility that that particular lady was not a relation of the Cayuga duck. I have learned since, that the true breed, although black with a greenish tinge, does not have a white breast. And I have now seen the genuine Cayuga ducks at Folly Farm near Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire. Nevertheless we were happy.
We had got a name for our house!
A few years later, researching the Oxford English Dictionary, I found out all about the Cayuga Indians in New York State USA, also the Finger Lakes (the largest being "Cayuga Lake"). And of course it is from there that the domesticated Cayuga duck was, and probably still is, being bred.
We lived at 'Cayuga' Park Avenue, Wraysbury for just on 30 years and during that period there was never a shortage of our white breasted friends along with the more natural coloured mallard. Thus the name "cayuga" became synonymous with yours truly and has remained with me to this day.
We lived at 'Cayuga' Park Avenue, Wraysbury for just on 30 years and during that period there was never a shortage of our white breasted friends along with the more natural coloured mallard. Thus the name "cayuga" became synonymous with yours truly and has remained with me to this day.
And that is, as they say,
the legend of the CAYUGA NEST
on Brian's Pad, Wraysbury Berkshire UK, in March 1964!
Footnote: In September 2005, I visited that area in New York State. There is a Cayuga Village, Cayuga County and various Cayuga Streets as well as the Cayuga Lake. But found no evidence of Cayuga Duck breeding!
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(posted April 2007, updated May 2012)
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