The Surprise

A perfect, blue skied, sunny weekend was made even better by a visit from my 
favorite buddy.


Tyler spent the day with Grammie and Muppy on Sunday.
Before his arrival I told him that I had a surprise for him...
actually 16 little surprises.


Each visit Tyler checks the duck hut to see if any eggs hatched into baby ducks.
How happy he was yesterday to see that his wish had come true...
times sixteen!


He was curious about the state of the nest in the duck hut,
and wanted to see if all the eggs had hatched.


Two had not.


Meanwhile, Mrs. Waddlington was giving swimming lessons in the pond.


I am so happy to say that this is our third generation of ducklings raised here on the pond 
from a group of ducklings that I started four years ago.
Last year we had enough ducks, so we did not allow any to remain in the nest.
This year we let nature take its course.
It seems that all of the females laid their eggs in one nest this year
and Mrs. Waddlington chose to be the surrogate Mom for all.


She is doing a great job of keeping her brood together and teaching them their survival skills.
Amazingly, when ducklings are hatched naturally and fostered by a mother duck,
they are able to go into the water immediately.
This is due to the fact that the mother duck keeps her ducklings under her wing in the beginning.
This behavior helps to coat the ducklings down with the mother's oils...
preventing the ducklings from becoming water logged.

Ducklings raised in captivity without a Mother duck do not get the advantage of this oil,
and thus cannot spend long periods of time in the water until they are much older.


It always amazes me how Mother Nature takes care of all these little details.


Obviously, Sammie is not amazed by much of anything on this particular day!

Comments

Carla said…
I did not know that particular fact about duck moms vs. human moms and waterlogging. Very cool! Thanks!
mrscravitz said…
LOL! I did not know mother ducks laid all their eggs in one nest. That is to cute! Love the duckies!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
i had no idea about the mother's oil. they are so cute. your little buddy is so lucky to be able to spend time on your farm.
Katmom said…
Oh My Stars! I can not believe how tall Tyler is getting!
As for Sammy (last pic) I so agree.. in fact if I were there, I'd be lying on the waters edge next to him... oh how I love this weather... hugz
This N That said…
That's a lot of Ducklings..Glad to know that they're from more than one Mom..Yikes..Such fun..Hope they all make it...Saturday couldn't have been more perfect them the humidity set in..Ouch..Have a super week..
happyone said…
That is amazing but then so is God who designed it all. : )
Love to see all the baby ducks.
Lynne said…
Sammie is enjoying the sunshine warmth . . . bet he is keeping an eye out for the duckling brood though!
I didn't know that about the oils! Of course, that makes perfect sense. Mother Nature has a funny way of covering all her bases...
I love looking at pictures of the wee one admiring the wee ones in the pond. What a cool thing to get to watch!
daisy g said…
Very interesting about the oils. Yep, Mother Nature knows what She's doing! ;0D
Unknown said…
What a life! Thanks for the info on ducklings....I know nothing.
Charlotte said…
How lovely! Ducklings are so adorable :)