When I first found the family, they were way out away from the shore, but in shallow enough water that the mom could feel if anything was coming up from underneath her and her family. She still had 7 of them as of this morning.
I soon found out why she was way away from shore. Not long after I walked away, I heard her screaming and saw a Cooper's hawk flying up and down along the shore. Apparently, when Mama decided to land on the shore, the hawk tried to attack and Mama did a broken wing act and tried to chase the hawk off. She was lucky I came along or the hawk could have hurt her. The babies were fine and gathered several feet offshore while Mama dealt with the hawk.
When I came up, she got out of the water and they came up to me. But, she was still watching for that hawk who flew off in another direction.
Later, she took them around to the boat docks where the ducklings fed around the slimy rocks:
And, along the walkway where algae grows along the concrete:
Oh no! They're trying to escape, Mama!
There they go, across the dock!:
No comments:
Post a Comment