June 23rd, 2011

So this duck had 7 ducklings. 2 eggs never hatched. The neighbour who owns the porch says the mother marched the family down the street, but later that evening they heard the ducks quacking at a crow.  They went to investigate, and the ducklings were all down in a sewer drain – probably to escape the crows. The neighbours got the sewer grate open, and rescued 6 of the seven ducklings. One lost duckling had wandered down the sewer pipe a ways. The mother duck led the six rescued ducklings away, but the male duck stayed behind. The neighbours waited until the stray duckling came back into the open, and they managed to catch it. The male then led that duckling away. I’m not sure how the parents came up with the plan that the mother would take most of the ducklings away and the father would wait for the other, but it worked out.

There is now a new female mallard in the same planter on the porch!