Overnight guests
We had overnight guests camping on the back deck Sunday night. Sunday morning, I gathered two more of the baby mallards and brought them home with intentions of setting them free on the creek to their single parent (dad - duck). Well, he wasn't around, so I carried them back up to the house and looked for something to keep them in safely. This portable/collapsable dog kennel was perfect. Never found the drake, so we loaned them a dog bowl, threw in plenty of their first serving of cracked corn, and tucked them in for the night. This morning we woke up to a wonderful booming thunderstorm. Worried about the ducklings, we flashed a flashlight their way. It was drenched in there. A couple of inches of water, and they were having a time, splashing and all.
Well, the drake showed up, we carriend these two down to the creek before work, and released them. They seemed fine. I know I shouldn't worry, but I take my "child rearing" very seriously, even though we never had a real "child".
lucky duck contest
In celebration of Independence Day we had a contest - and the lucky duck was released to the creek. They are two months old now, and even though I've been bringing them food and water twice a day, they are still amazingly wild. For their protection, that's a good thing.
I took the winner - the one I could catch - to the creek and released him yesterday. Haven't seen the mom duck in the creek since these babies hatched, but the dad sure seemed like he recognized him, and led the way.