Ducklings!

Having been away for two days and knowing there were more eggs to hatch, we hurried out to check on Lisa and her eggs when we got back yesterday afternoon. There were nine ducklings stumbling about on the grass with Lisa keeping a very close eye on them. Four eggs remain in the nest and at least one duckling was sickly, dying before it was a day old, according to Hazel and Julia who were looking after the ducks while we were away. We’re not sure what happened to the others because there were sixteen eggs originally. Still, nine is a good clutch 🙂

So here are the first pix of our adorable resident family – aren’t they sweet? We count five yellow ducklings, three brown ducklings and one real cutie who is splodged all over yellow and brown – like a little harlequin.

Cute or what?

Lisa is allowing us to come close enough to refill the watering tray and water bowls and we’ve been throwing bird seed onto the grass for the ducklings to forage for their food. We hope that we can keep them with us for a few days longer. The bigger they are, the better their chances will be when Lisa decides to lead them down to the far more dangerous environment of the duckpond down the road.

Yvonne is still in the garden, keeping Lisa company, but her nest under the Yucca is empty although she still goes to sit there for long periods. Maybe she’ll raise a family of ducklings next year if they both come back …

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