My lone window in my office at work looks out onto a triangular courtyard. The courtyard is totally surrounded by the building, but it's a nice spot for the students to hang out or eat lunch or practice presentations for class (as I've also witnessed before). It's also evidently a good place for a Mama Mallard to have some babies.
My office neighbor was the first to notice her on her nest a couple of weeks ago. Her brown feathers camouflaged her in the pine straw. We thought she had nine eggs. Tuesday when I went back to work, I noticed an egg shell beside her on the nest and wondered if something (one of those humongous crows??) got to the eggs...or...if our babies were here. When I saw her stand up, all of a sudden these little fuzzy golden-brown heads started peeping out from under her. Oh my. They are so, so cute. There are ten little ones, and they are just precious as they peep and toddle after Mama. She's very protective and gentle with them. It's been difficult to get much done this week...students and teachers visit my office to check out the babies, and doggone it...I have to keep watch to make sure they're OK, right? Teachers have put out pans of water (babies obviously can't fly out to the pond yet) and there are signs on the courtyard doors to keep the students out. The current consensus is that the babies will fly out when they are ready. Thank goodness it's the end of school and therapy is winding down...because who wants to work when there are babies to admire?
My lone window in my office at work looks out onto a triangular courtyard. The courtyard is totally surrounded by the building, but it's a nice spot for the students to hang out or eat lunch or practice presentations for class (as I've also witnessed before). It's also evidently a good place for a Mama Mallard to have some babies.
My office neighbor was the first to notice her on her nest a couple of weeks ago. Her brown feathers camouflaged her in the pine straw. We thought she had nine eggs. Tuesday when I went back to work, I noticed an egg shell beside her on the nest and wondered if something (one of those humongous crows??) got to the eggs...or...if our babies were here. When I saw her stand up, all of a sudden these little fuzzy golden-brown heads started peeping out from under her. Oh my. They are so, so cute. There are ten little ones, and they are just precious as they peep and toddle after Mama. She's very protective and gentle with them. It's been difficult to get much done this week...students and teachers visit my office to check out the babies, and doggone it...I have to keep watch to make sure they're OK, right? Teachers have put out pans of water (babies obviously can't fly out to the pond yet) and there are signs on the courtyard doors to keep the students out. The current consensus is that the babies will fly out when they are ready. Thank goodness it's the end of school and therapy is winding down...because who wants to work when there are babies to admire?
I LOVE the ducks. They are precious and so spring-y. Not as thrilled about your snake pictures. EEK. Love reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteAndrea