Just Ducky

Up in the trees we’re watching Red-shouldered Hawks build nests. But much lower down, there’s some subtle nest building occurring on the forest floor. Or perhaps I should say “location scouting.”

Several pairs of ducks have been noticed in the area between the bridges, some quite close to the path. This Mallard hen was just a bit off the paved path, very close to one of the “free-form” dirt paths. She blended into the dead leaves remarkably well.

Perhaps she was a bit too close to the path. As I watched, after taking this shot, a man and his young son came right along the dirt path. The Mallard wasn’t happy about that and waddled off to the water.

I inspected the site and was actually glad she hadn’t started lining the spot with downy feathers.

But somewhere around us, there’s a duck that knows what it’s doing. She’ll have a nest much like this one, perhaps almost in plain sight. But you will probably never know it’s there, until you see the little ones on the pond.