common_nature | Ducklings!

We've seen at least 5 duck families and two goose families on our like in the last 6 weeks. Here are some pics:

This photo was a little shadowed by a flower on our balcony but I included it because I am always amused when baby ducks "motorboat" to catch up to their family. It's like they find another gear and seem to zip across the water.

Saw this latest brood when out for a walk and the camera phone's zoom is not very clear. But I found it amusing to see the babies essentially standing in the water, shaking themselves off, so even though it's rather blurry I figured I'd post it.

Mama calling for her babies to gather.

Although ducklings are adorable drake behavior is not. At the time we saw a mother with three babies, she was being pursued relentlessly by a set of drakes. They would deliberately come between her and the babies to keep her in the area.

Eventually one of the three managed to mate with her, at which point he became very aggressive in driving the others off. Meanwhile the babies alternately kept together and straggled off, unable to keep up with the movement of the adults, who would fly in and out of the lake.

I found the photos above perfectly captured this scenario of the lone baby made more vulnerable by these attacks.