Jun 03, 2020
Seriously, ducks can count!
It was like a gift, the day after my birthday, on May 23rd, we both while in different parts of the house, noticed a movement on the patio close to the lake. We called out to each other within moments.
Two extremely tiny ducklings seemed to appear out of nowhere. They wobbled about a bit and kept stopping to rest, then they would toddle a wee bit further and collapse. They did move from the patio closer to the hedge and then back again to the patio and the sun. We were panicked, where was Mom, and how would we be able to keep them safe?
Suddenly Mom appeared, as if from nowhere. She stayed with her two babies. I wonder if they left the nest earlier than she had expected.
A few minutes later, there were three. They just hung around.
Things were happening quickly. Two more ducklings dropped out of the hedge. One onto the glider and the other onto a table.
To put things into perspective, the ducklings were popping out of the hedge behind the wind wheel and the first onto the seat of that glider and then, the second one, onto the table next to it. They both then jumped down to the patio and of course fell over. At this point we realized that this was their first time out of the nest.
Mama waited and waited. We are again getting concerned and wondering what was happening. I said that perhaps she was waiting for the rest of her kids. All these photos were taken from inside our home and we were being very careful to not frighten nor upset the ducks with any sudden movements. Now there were seven but Mama just stayed put and waited and walked back and forth. Suddenly two more appeared as they dropped out of the hedge.
Now Mama had her nine children and was on the move. She would not budge until she had her entire brood of nine. We thought she was taking them to the steps ( directly behind them all in the photo ) but she kept moving to the right of our patio.
This was the place she decided that they had to go down over the rocks and enter the water. Some were eager, others rather reluctant.
Eventually they all made it into the lake. Such a lovely family.
We felt like we had experienced a miracle. I guess it is all about being in the right place at a time. How fortunate that we have had time over the past weeks to observe nature around us, but this was over the top special. We couldn’t stop talking about what we had just witnessed. I do remember seeing a female duck sitting on top of the hedge and even have posted a photo of it. Later Colin took the ladder out and looked down into the hedge and saw where they had likely nested.
Exactly a week later, on May 30th, we saw Mom and nine kids float on past. It had to be our family, it just had to, as we have not seen any others out on the lake.
<< Older Posts Home Newer Posts >>
Thank You
Always nice to be able to witness nature first hand.
Many times if a Bird finds a good spot to nest they will return.
Be Safe and Enjoy your Naturevision.
It’s about time.
Wow that it so special Contessa! I especially love the first picture of the two ducklings on their own.
Ducklings are so much sweetness and light. Beautiful
Great photos! A very special occasion.
What a perfectly wonderful post today.
Thank you so much!!
Great picture of mama n babies on the smooth looking water.!!!
Wow that’s incredible! How lucky you are!
What a privilege to see this. Thank you for your awareness of it, and for taking the photos so we can see it too!
It was so very special and we will never forget it. So happy to share it with you.
Love this post, what a cool thing to experience.
It truly was amazing. However unlike you we only get to see something like this occasionally. Your blog is full of wonderful nature experiences and photos.