Day Four

I think even ducks would have called it a hard day. We had torrential cold driving rain, which covered the deck with debris and created swimming pools on land. The ducklings hovered a lot, taking shelter under Mom, but not under the house eaves which were explored but not used to advantage. Bursts of independent exploration required more vocal policing for round-up, but today another duckling faltered, and didn’t survive nap time. The siblings now number four, and we see diminished energy in one of them. Did I say several days ago that we were happy to offer this family a safe haven? It’s a humbling experience to witness life in nature, and be so quickly reminded that control is a figment of our imagination.

Mom has begun to walk the fence line, looking for the escape route.