On July 30th, I announced the hatching of Brood 28 at the Brighton millpond. Just two ducklings arrived on the scene and their mother has distinctive wide white eyebrows that are easy to spot on the pond.
She was a careful protector of the babies even though she was surrounded by Canada geese and adult ducks. The next day, she moved the brood to the Main Street area with all of the other ducks sut stayed close (three photos below) and remained vigilant in her duties of threatening every duck coming close to the little ones (right). In the end, however, it wasn’t enough.
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In just two days, she only had one duckling (left). The next day, it was gone, too. Now she’s back mingling with the other adult ducks (top) and it’s probably too late in the season to anticipate another attempt at nesting.
Nothing is known about what took the lives of her ducklings or most of the other ones lost this year. Snapping turtles are the usual suspects but ducklings in their first two weeks are small enough to be eaten by many critters that fly over, swim in or walk the shorelines looking for their next meal. No matter how diligent the hens, their chicks can vanish in a blink.
[...] 08/04/12 :: Too soon alone again [...]