Monday, April 17, 2006

Just Ducky



My building where I work is right across from Sequoia Lake. Every spring we are able to watch the male ducks escorting the females everywhere around campus and fighting off competing males. It really is quite funny sometimes and I always cheer when the occasional very resourceful female can slip away from her escorts. But in the end nature always succeeds despite the few independent ladies and the result is an explosion of baby ducks throughout the spring. These pictures are from the second group I've seen. They are about a day old and amazingly fast. Even though I followed them all over, probably totally freaking out the mommy duck, these little guys moved like they had one brain between the bunch of them. I move one way, they moved the other. Looking for a contrasting shot was tough. Mommy kept them in the bushes and undergrowth. There is a reason these little guys are camouflaged. If you look hard you can see them in the road picture. Finally I let mommy and brood waddle off and I finally got my contrast shot in the grass. It was a nice way to start off my morning as I walked into work though I doubt if mommy duck would have agreed with me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, Anne! I haven't been there for a week, and look what I'm missing. Thank you for the photos.

Jeremy said...

Cute ducks. They wander around town a lot here too, showing contempt for any traffic.

Thanks for the comments. I didn't get the one you mentioned, but I'm glad you liked the prints and Bridget's picture. She's started a blog too, though I'll leave it to her to get in touch in reply to your questions.

The penny has just dropped regarding the origins of 'Sunday scribblings'. I've been enjoying reading some of them.

Hope you've had a good break