Baby Ducks

[Martin Hash]

Baby Ducks 2.JPG

Climate Change has given our house 150% of rainfall for the season, resulting in the backyard swale flooding for the first time in two decades. We lost the grass, and I was worried my shrub maze would get waterlogged. But there was one good thing about all that water, a momma duck would find the area a safe place to lay eggs and raise her ducklings. So I watched out the bedroom window, and as I suspected, one day caught sight of a big female followed by a line of little guys.

Baby Ducks 1.JPG

I figured I needed a baby duck picture but every time I walked outside, they skedaddled into the shrubbery before I could get a shot. After a half dozen times of trying to sneak up on them, I took off my pants & waded stealthily through the maze, trying not to disturb the water, but those little bastards were too sly for me. They would scurry through the tiny holes between the arborvitae before I could get a picture. Plus, the place was full of flying bugs, and the mud squishing between my toes felt gross. I decided enough with the caution, I'd run up on them real fast with a video camera. But it turns out, baby ducks aren't that slow to pick up on an Old White Guy at full throttle.

It must have been quite a sight: me running flat out, camera rolling, ducks flying everywhere; lots of commotion accompanied by excited quacking. Finally, I noticed my wife, Gwynne, watching me, mouth agape, as I booked across the grass, shirt-tails flapping.
After the unsuccessful duck hunt, I walked over to her to explain. “There's a momma and a bunch of baby ducks that live in the maze & they come out into the flooded area to swim around.” I told her, excitedly. “I'm trying to get a picture but they're too fast.”
“Is that why you've been running across the yard barefooted?” she asked.
“I didn't want them to hear my flip-flops,” I explained. “But the last time, I got this Charlie-horse in my leg, right here,” I rubbed my thigh. “And it still hurts.”
Gwynne didn't seem very sympathetic. “Did you get a picture of the baby ducks?”
“Uh, well, not really.”
“Let me see what you have,” she demanded.
I showed Gwynne the jerky, out-of-focus video, stopped it on one frame of what might have been ducks.
Gwynne just glanced at it. “That picture's fine," she said. "Now leave the baby ducks alone.”

Baby Ducks 5 crop.jpg

[Fife]

Feed em good. They need lots of muscles to make it all the way down to my duck blind in January. :goteam:

[heydaralon]

Baby Ducks 2.JPGClimate Change has given our house 150% of rainfall for the season, resulting in the backyard swale flooding for the first time in two decades. We lost the grass, and I was worried my shrub maze would get waterlogged. But there was one good thing about all that water, a momma duck would find the area a safe place to lay eggs and raise her ducklings. So I watched out the bedroom window, and as I suspected, one day caught sight of a big female followed by a line of little guys.

Baby Ducks 1.JPGI figured I needed a baby duck picture but every time I walked outside, they skedaddled into the shrubbery before I could get a shot. After a half dozen times of trying to sneak up on them, I took off my pants & waded stealthily through the maze, trying not to disturb the water, but those little bastards were too sly for me. They would scurry through the tiny holes between the arborvitae before I could get a picture. Plus, the place was full of flying bugs, and the mud squishing between my toes felt gross. I decided enough with the caution, I'd run up on them real fast with a video camera. But it turns out, baby ducks aren't that slow to pick up on an Old White Guy at full throttle.

It must have been quite a sight: me running flat out, camera rolling, ducks flying everywhere; lots of commotion accompanied by excited quacking. Finally, I noticed my wife, Gwynne, watching me, mouth agape, as I booked across the grass, shirt-tails flapping.
After the unsuccessful duck hunt, I walked over to her to explain. “There's a momma and a bunch of baby ducks that live in the maze & they come out into the flooded area to swim around.” I told her, excitedly. “I'm trying to get a picture but they're too fast.”
“Is that why you've been running across the yard barefooted?” she asked.
“I didn't want them to hear my flip-flops,” I explained. “But the last time, I got this Charlie-horse in my leg, right here,” I rubbed my thigh. “And it still hurts.”
Gwynne didn't seem very sympathetic. “Did you get a picture of the baby ducks?”
“Uh, well, not really.”
“Let me see what you have,” she demanded.
I showed Gwynne the jerky, out-of-focus video, stopped it on one frame of the what might have been ducks.
Gwynne just glanced at it. “That picture's fine. Leave the baby ducks alone.”Baby Ducks 5 crop.jpg

You have a nice yard, although from the picture it looks more like you live in the South East rather than the North West. I used to have pet ducks. They shit on everything, but they are fun. You can imprint them and train them to follow you around if you get them as ducklings. They make better pets than chickens imo. I still eat poultry, and did when I had them as pets.

[Haumana]

You have a nice yard, although from the picture it looks more like you live in the South East rather than the North West. I used to have pet ducks. They shit on everything, but they are fun. You can imprint them and train them to follow you around if you get them as ducklings. They make better pets than chickens imo. I still eat poultry, and did when I had them as pets.

Never had ducks but our chicken, Peep, that we got as a lil yellow peeper was more dog than chicken. She was attached to my wife's hip. Naps on the bed, watch tv on the sofa, share her iced tea or red wine and if you opened the fridge she would peck on the top drawer if she wanted grapes and the bottom drawer if she wanted some lunch meat. Peep gave us 5-6 eggs a week for 5 years straight and died in my wife's lap at around 8 years old. Thank god for hardwood flooring and those black tar shits were amongst the most foul smelling things I have had to endure.