A sort of rite of spring took place today right outside my office window. Mamma duck hatched her eggs… it must have happened within the last 16 hours, cause there was no sign of anything other than eggs yesterday… today I saw a duckling!
These couple of shots were taken with my zoom lens from about 30 feet away… I was trying not to spook mamma.
When I got in to my office, I peeked out the window and saw FIVE ducklings. That’s about what she had last year I believe.
Then…. I heard a bunch of chirping and glanced outside to see the nest was empty! They were on the move… I looked up the hill a bit, and there was a whole gaggle… er… flock… er? what do you call a bunch of ducks?
I grabbed the camera and headed outside to get some parting shots.
I was surprised at how many there were… where she was hiding them while on the nest, I dunno (sitting on them I suppose?) but there are ELEVEN of the lil suckers. And so off they went… finding the nearest water. Not sure exactly where… closest pond I know of is a good mile away. But mamma came back after doing this last year, so things must be working out good for her.
See ya next year…
1 comment so far ↓
Aww, how cute! In my last house before the one we live in now, we built a fifteen by twenty foot pond. A Mamma duck came one year and laid her eggs underneath our dining room window and when they hatched, even though I only saw a few eggs, she wound up with twelve! Two died though
But, the good news was, she didnt have to go far to take them into water as the pond was only a few feet away from the nest.
We have video footage of her teaching the ducklings how to swim and let me tell you there is nothing more precious in this world than watching a baby duck dunk its head under the water for the first time.
Touched my heart. Great pics, Rob! Thanks for sharing
P.S.
The collective nouns for ducks are as follows:
In flight (flock)
On ground (brace or badling)
In water (raft, team, paddling)
Look here for other animal grouping names:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml
http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Pointless/AnimalGroups.html
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