Dorothy AWOL

Has anyone seen my duck.  The last time she was seen was Monday afternoon, sitting on her nest at the base of one of the willows in my yard.  We were anxiously awaiting the arrival of her brood.   Here is a picture of what she will look like with 8 ducklings in tow.

I was hoping to get some pictures of the ducklings out frolicking in our yard under the watchful gaze of mother duck however when I checked her nest on Tuesday this is what I saw.  One egg still intact and now apparently abandoned by Dorothy.

Lots of bits of egg shells plus the one below that was almost intact with just the top broken open.

It appears that sometime in the past 48 hours 8 of the eggs hatched.  After a little research on todays version of Encyclopedia Brittanica I discovered that after hatching they stay in the nest for about 10 hours to allow their feathers to dry and then they are off to find water.   Its going to be a bit of a walk from our place but hopefully they find a better home than our yard.

Guess I can now cut the grass on that side of the yard.

Thats the report from Wiebe's Nature Preserve.

Later.