
The youngster was out in front, paddling furiously, plowing the otherwise placid surface into a mini frenzy of ripples into which dad, trailing a bit behind, slowly but effortlessly kept pace, while grandpa lagged a bit.
Later the little fellow would be taught how to dive, to leap forward in an arc to plunge beneath the surface using only his little paddles for propulsion, paddles at the moment he proudly employed in churning the otherwise reflective surface into a semi storm of bubbles.
Come to think of it, he’d better learn his diving lessons well.
Not just to dive down to dine on submerged plants and aquatic invertebrates, but to survive.
His list of predators was as expansive as the ever-widening ripples on the water.
Ravens, crows, snapping turtles, muskrats, skunks, great horned owls, mink, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, pike, bass, red fox, raccoons, and dogs could make a meal out of him. His watery world was a dangerous place.
In the merest of seconds – a shadow momentarily cast that briefly blocks the sun; a turbulent swirl from below the surface that suggests terror from the depths – his future could be very much in doubt.
Learn your life lessons well little duck in order to survive. It is a hard, and ofttimes unforgiving, world.
A sweet and well-written article with one exception: ducks (in the Mallard family, at least) are raised entirely by the mother. After the eggs are fertilized, it is the mother who sits on them; the fathers leave for parts unknown. We live on Clover Creek and often have ducks visit our backyard daily. We are only casual observers, but can easily see the yearly progression: lots of beautifully plumed males this time of year, interacting with females; moms with their ducklings in early summer, and very few males; molting males returning in late summer. We’re not sure where the males go during the summer, but we’ve never seen one with a brood of ducklings following it to the cracked corn.
Thank you for this. I tried my best to determine what kind of ducks these were and finally settled on Ring-necked. I then tried to distinguish adult male from female and decided the two following the little guy were males. But then again, I may have been wrong on all counts.
Of course (hopefully), the moral of the story is the importance of learning our lessons well – from whomever our mentors and roll-models are – given the world in which we live.
role models
Courtney, you are correct that drake mallards have no interest in raising ducklings.
In fact they will drive mamma off of her first hatch of ducklings so they can breed her again, leaving the ducklings to “sink or swim”.
Nature runs on instinct, not moral character.
Moral character is what separates us from animals, or at least it’s supposed to.
Sorry for getting your name wrong. Spellcheck.