Does it get any cuter than that?! This bunch -- mom with 11 babies! -- was wandering through the parking lot at the day job. There isn't a pond or any water nearby so I was a bit worried about them.

But our resident birder said the mom mallard would feed them bugs from the fields... maybe mom was waiting to cross the street later in the day.

Also, at the day job... There is an osprey nest at the top of a cell tower. It's probably a couple blocks away, but we set up a spotting scope in the upstairs art department and watched them last spring. Unfortunately, they lost the babies. (Predation from other ospreys?) And then even more unfortunately, in the autumn stupid humans tore down their nest. Arg!

Well, the ospreys came back this spring and complained loudly. They went away for about a month, but now they are back. They've decided to rebuild!

(just hoping the ospreys didn't want baby duck for dinner!)
and it seems a bit late in the season to be building a nest. Will they try for some late babies? Or is this prep for next year?

And, in my own neck of the woods...

some much older mallard ducklings. Just the two, and mom was close.

It's been years since I've seen baby ducks at the creek... the ducks get fed bread by misinformed human parents at Ducky Hill. The ducks gobble it up, but it's not good for them. None of our ducks have the deformed feathers that have shown up in other local park duck populations (Angel Wing, incurable). But a lack of babies is definitely a sign of malnutrition via bread.

So two mallard younglings is cause for celebration!

Static8 > Journal > 17 may 2014

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