Mama Duck

On the Saturday before Easter, we found a nest with one lonely little egg in it. We never saw hide nor feather of the mama; although we had a few ducks in the yard on occasion. This is not really all that unusual as we have a retention pond and greenspace across the street from us. Too big to be a bird and too small for a goose (thank goodness!!), we were guessing duck egg. I had hoped that it would be eggS. Nearly a week had passed before another egg was added. Finally, we had two! Keep in mind that we still had no actual siting. That Friday afternoon, the kids were showing off our little nest to their friends. Before I knew it, the little neighbor girl had picked up one of the eggs. I felt really bad. I wasn't sure what the mama would do since her nest was disturbed. Each day since, one more egg was added. When were up to seven, it looked as though one of them had been broken. I'm guessing that this was the one that had been handled, but really I have no way to know for sure. And still one last egg was added. Finally, the nest was full. It was still a couple of days later before we finally started seeing the mama duck sitting in her nest. At first she would scurry away right away, but I think that she has gotten used to us coming and going.  The kids check in on her every morning on their way down to the bus stop. Now we are anxiously awaiting the hatching of fuzzy little ducklings!

Another photo album by Smilebox