The annual pair of mallards appeared outside my office window right on time last week, and they’ve been wandering the temporary puddles in our soggy back yard ever since.
This morning I find the female sitting immobile, with
a
contented look on her face, next to the nasturtiums Amy planted
yesterday. Sure looks like she’s
incubating eggs.
Bird-brain! Don't you remember? This will all dry out to hard heavy clay in a
couple of weeks, and you’ll have to re-locate.
Maybe it’ll even be too late to start again. Those wasted
efforts! I fret about them every spring.
No worries about mallards as a species; they're by far our most common ducks. But I know your concern for individual birds as well (e.g., the fate of the juvenile starling on the Cornell hawk nest last year). As the traditional hymn reminds us, "His eye is on the sparrow"--and yours is on the baby starling and the mallard eggs. One of the many reasons you're one of my heroes.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I don't know whether you're watching the Cornell hawk nest this year, but the first hatch should be happening any time now.
Do you really think she is sitting on eggs? Has this ever happened before? CMS
ReplyDeleteSo, is she still there? Enquiring minds need to know!
ReplyDelete