I woke up this morning to a mostly empty nest:

There's still a couple of eggs in the nest which could be either late bloomers or duds. When I looked down the street I saw the mother marching down the sidewalk with a bunch of little fuzzballs in pursuit. I did not get a picture of that but did take my camera along when we left the house to go to work. We circled around the block and discoverd the mother wandering around in the street. When I got out of the car with my camera she started quacking at me and tried to lead me away from some tall grass.

Labels: Ducks, Nature, Summer

That Mallard is still nesting in our planter. I've been afraid to mow our lawn lest I should upset her or somehow usurp nature's balance with an internal combustion engine. Our house was starting to look like one of those garbage houses that you hear about on the news, where the water has been shut off for the past 6 months and the people inside have been pooping into garbage bags.

I couldn't stand it yesterday so I finally mowed the lawn. Much to my amazement the girl was as cool as a cucumber and allowed me to do my thing. I got about my business as fast as I could and now we are no longer an aesthetic blight on suburbia. Except of course that we still cannot plant anything in our planter, because there's a duck already planted there. Squatters, I tell ya!

Here are some pictures I took this morning.
I'm not bashful anymore.
I just opened the front door and leaned out and took these.



I shot a video too:

Labels: Ducks, Flowers, House, Nature, Summer, Video, Yard

The Mallard Hen is now living in our planter full time. The drake has disappeared; according to wikipedia that is normal. I guess he had to run off and do drake things for a while.

A took these photos from the truck when I drove around the front of the house. I just rolled down the passenger window and snapped off a couple of shots.


Here are a couple of closeups (Be sure to click on them to see full size):

From what I read, gestion takes about four weeks. Given that the eggs have been there for a week now and supposing a week or so before they leave the nest, I won't be able to use my front door for the next month, and really shouldn't be mowing my front lawn, either.

I think I'm going to be really popular with the neighbors this summer.

Labels: Ducks, Flowers, House, Life, Nature, Summer, Yard

Two weekends ago When I was clearing the yard I noticed that a bunch of the dead flowers had been removed from the planter out front on our steps.

Last weekend we spotted four eggs in the planter:


On Monday I spotted a mallard couple wandering around in our front yard, and this morning I was able to spy through the sidelight on our front door and actually see the hen, sitting in our planter. Now there are 7 eggs.

These waddling squatters are a welcome addition to our yard, especially after what happened last year. In the mean time, the planter can wait.

Another pleasant surprise this spring were the hostas that I transplanted from my parent's place last summer. Out of the middle of one of the plants sprung up four royal purple tulips, which had obviously mingled into the hosta's root system and been transported unwittingly by me. So mom has been gone for a year and a half but she is still sending me surprises.

Labels: Ducks, Flowers, House, Mom, Yard

There is a busy road near my house that cuts through a wetland, and at 7 in the morning it is congested with me and all of my neighbors from the surrounding developments as we race from our homes to our workplaces. The posted speed is 50, which means that everyone goes about 65.

This morning I was in the left lane when the car in front of me came to an abrupt halt. I had to stand on my brakes to avoid hitting him - I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach as I heard the screeching brakes behind me and I waited for the impact. It never came, because thankfully the drivers behind me were alert. The car in front of me slowly started rolling forward, and I saw that he had come to a stop on top of a group of ducklings. The mother hopped up on the median and turned back to look at her brood. It was too dangerous for me to even think about staying stopped in the road, or getting out to check for survivors. I too rolled forward, over the crumpled bodies of her young.

It doesn't take a lot to change your entire perspective for the day. As I continued on to the babysitter I looked over my shoulder at my own 'duckling,' in his carseat, so helpless and at the mercy of his parents. I voiced a prayer of thanks that we were spared from an accident.

That hen led her ducklings into a slaughter because she could not understand the danger that she was walking them into. Thankfully for me there is a higher wisdom to lean on in my own life, and the undertakings that come with it. I just need to remind myself daily to lean on that wisdom, rather than my own understandings. I prayed for myself and my wife for more wisdom & foresight, so that our son might never have to bear the consequences of a lapse in our judgement in such a terrible fashion as those ducklings had.

It seems to be a little perverse to suggest that the deaths of those baby mallards achieved some sort of meaning because some fat white suburbanite who played an active role in their demise was reminded to put his trust in God. But then again, are there many things more perverse than a meaningless death?

Labels: Ducks, Life