Heroic Mother Duck

Every spring, I see mallard ducks paddling about in a nearby pond followed by their squirming brood of gold and yellow teacup-size chicks. But by mid July there is nary a juvenile duck to be seen. The mother ducks swim alone and unfollowed, and their pretty chicks are gone. Mallard ducklings just don't last long around here.

But as I was out walking this morning an entire tribe of juvenile mallards waddled across the path ahead. Mama duck saw me coming and quacked at her brood to move it off the path. I stopped and tried to count the kids as they tumbled over each other to get to the pond. Nine ducklings! Still alive and half grown in mid-July!

This Mama duck is on track to beat the previous record in the local duck pond. A couple of years ago a mallard still had seven of her ducklings at the end of summer. They were nearly as big as she was, and she was still quacking and fussing at them to behave. Teenagers can be a handful.