Assuming this program will operate as it should today -- you will remember I showed you the Mallard ducks that migrated in here Easter weekend -- as they do every year -- attracted by that strip of melting snow at the rear of this back yard. 
I think I told you they always move on, looking for a nice swamp to nest in, because that water dries up and disappears every year within a matter of days.
Now here's the view of the yard from my desk, and these days that's all I've got to work with -- can no longer get back there to see what's going on, and even moving to another window is a big undertaking.
So I got out the binoculars, and sure enough, there's a puddle still left back there, about the size of a manhole cover, and I'm afraid they're wasting their 2017 nesting opportunity, because I know -- if they don't -- that it'll be gone within a few days.
Okay -- he's in the middle of this picture, looking at you, and I've blown it up so you can see her more or less -- she's just to the right of that dandelion in front of him, beautifully camouflaged by Nature so that it's hard to see her...because, I'm afraid, she's sitting on eggs. Or could that be a grey chick already, just to her right? Wish I could get out there and find out.
Only consolation is, come to think of it I haven't seen that feral cat around here lately.
Stay tuned!
oh, dear! let us know what happens.
ReplyDelete"Lake Le Moyne" (the seasonal puddle at the Jesuit college just east of us) is also still attracting occasional ducks, although none are nesting there. That's a wet spring for you. If your Mr. and Ms. Mallard are going to hang around, I hope they get to raise a clutch before summer.
ReplyDeleteAnd in other birdy news, "Otto" and "SU-Sue" (the RTH pair on the Syracuse U. campus) have just hatched the third of their three eggs. Busy times ahead for both parents!
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