Just a few weeks ago a couple of photographers and I were talking about how we had not seen any baby ducks this year. Normally by this time, we have seen baby ducks all over the lake. As we began to talk and compare stories, it seemed that the ducks were nesting under deeper cover this year. The reason being that there are more bob cats and coyotes at the lake than in the past. The big problem has been the bob cats. They are on the move in relocating from their normal north digs because of all the construction going on in Frisco and McKinney, Plano, and across the northern sector of north Texas.
Well, about a week after that discussion, I saw a Mallard hen in a Richardson park that had a clutch of 20 chicks. 20! Then, last week I saw a hen with a normal amount of chicks on the lake, out away from the shoreline. That was strange too. To be that far out in the lake with chicks (goslings, excuse me) was not a normal situation.
Today, I saw a Mallard hen teaching her brood how to face into swells from high winds. It was funny watching the little ducks bury their heads in the water until the wave washed over them, then they came out with water all over their feathers. And, if that wasn't enough, my second stop I saw the mother duck that I had seen about 10-days ago in the current flow, but then, I got to looking and it was a wood duck with her chicks. So, what I had thought was a Mallard on this part of the lake was really a little wood duck. They were not nesting where they normally nest, either. There is something the ducks are really afraid of that is causing them to change their behavior to a very noticeable level. When I can catch the environmental biologist making his rounds, I will try to find out what's the word on this situation.
In the mean while, here are the pictures of two of the mom's with their goslings. The, Mallard teaching swimming lessons and the Wood Duck keeping her brood on the move.
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| The Mallard teaching how to take a lake swell head on. |
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| Here, mom Wood Duck has told her brood to take cover in the reed bed. There were a lot of fishermen and people with their dogs walking along the shore line as I took this shot. She has 8 goslings. The head dress on the female is not near as nice and colorful as on the male. He was not in sight today,anywhere. And, these were a couple of miles from where they were first sighted and nesting boxes are provided. She is nesting in this area. She knows the lay of the land pretty well, too. |
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| There are two goslings here with mom and the rest are in a little alcove below her and still in the water. NB--- The Mallards are permanent residents. The Wood Ducks are migratory. | | | | | | | | | |
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