Can you handle the cute?
I have been lucky enough to have been out in the paddock a bit this week – I am not yet up to riding or being in the sun too long, but have been soaking in our views from the car while being the Delivery Girl. It’s done my soul some good…
The thing about driving around out here is that you REALLY need to keep your eyes peeled (as my Dad would say)…
Because the most innocuous looking places – like this small glorified puddle beside the road – can he hiding the most incredible things.
Can you see anything amazing here? (Besides the grass I mean – I paid tribute to that last post!)
How about now? This is an Australasian Grebe which I hadn’t heard of before – apparently quite common on farm dams. She seems a little too glamorous for that, don’t you think? Look closer now…
That’s her baby on her back!
I. KNOW. RIGHT.
I was so amazing to see this when I was editing… I seriously had no idea when I was taking the photos!
So when I returned to the same place yesterday, I slowed again to see if I could spot this special mama….
There she is! With one baby behind her near the edge of the water and one climbing aboard…
How cool is that?
I would have been content…
Then movement to the left caught my eye…
NO. WAY.
I may have shreiked a little …
I realise I am a complete softie, but SERIOUSLY…
Can you count them? We have counted and recounted – we think 20 ducklings in total!
Three parents and a combined brood of 22.
Nice work…
I am astounded at this little flock…
Obviously Mother Nature and some very protective parents ensured an incredible survival rate in this nest…
Look at those little ones?
Can we come out Papa?
Yes, kids. It’s safer in the middle away from strange things…
Dora, have you done a head count back there?
Imagine naming twenty offspring?
Roll call would be hell…
I just couldn’t stop taking photos of them…
Even now, I cannot help grinning at the cuteness overload.
I suspect they may even make next year’s calendar.
😀
Dear Green ...
11 Comments
Colin Huggins
Plenty of fertility in that drake/duck family. Wood ducks, I think – well that is what we called them way back.
They can also be domesticated to an extent but they do like their freedom.
We had a pair as pets with the Muscovys and Kkaki Campbells – all harmonious.
As kids, my two sisters and I would swap the eggs in the nests and when the hatching was done, it was so amusing to watch the odd collection of ducklings waddling and swimming behind their mother duck. All oblivious to their differences.
Aaaaaaaaah – such funny days and no disasters in the duck population.
You are a good one at recalling the old days.
Cheers
Colin
Colin Huggins
Wood Ducks???
Andrew and Kelly, well it was about 60 years ago when we had these “wood ducks” as pets with the other two domesticated breeds, but I looked them up on wikipedia and what is shown there is what we had way back. I knew as suggested by Kelly that Wood ducks nest in hollows in tree trunks but they also do nest close to water on the ground.
Still it was a funny exercise rearranging the eggs for hatching and the hatching duck never seemed to care that she had produced a mix-match of ducklings. Another good thing about it was it was not seen as a punishable offence by our parents – ha ha!
I have also seen this breed of duck waddling around ANZAC park in the heart of Brisbane, plus in my local suburban parks.
They don’t seem to be too scared of humans.
Cheers
Colin
Merry-Anne
So much cuteness. I would have taken dozens of photos. I keep looking at them too.
Coral
What beautiful photos, as said earlier, so cute!yes, calendar material..
Andrew
Are they really wood ducks, as Colin suggests? Having so many children will learn her for doing the biz a bit too much. Just a gorgeous flock.
Andrew´s last blog post ..Timmy
jeanie
Oh, I am so tempted to mention my favourite colour is orange and let that marinate for a moment.
But I would NEVER be that cruel.
Very cute.
jeanie´s last blog post ..Nah, I don’t suffer from jetlag (part one of no doubt a million shattered fragments of my mind)
Kelly
Oh my gosh! It’s one of those kinds of cute where I almost burst out laughing when I got to the first shot with MASSES of ducklings.
Of course I didn’t expect them to match anything in my bird book, but the closest would be some sort of Merganser over here. We do have Wood Ducks, but they are totally different (and nest in trees in the woodland).
Kelly´s last blog post ..Let’s leave out the oil
Leenie
Heh heh. Know what you mean about not being able to stop taking pictures. Isn’t digital photography super?! Great shots. That’s quite a camo job on the baby grebes.
Nancy in Savannah
Wonderful pictures – thank you, ducks and BB!!! Your “one step at a time” project brings beauty to all of us!!
CountryMum
So very, very cute!! Great photos!
CountryMum´s last blog post ..February 6, 2015
Anne@Grit and Giggles
Oh they are super cute and climbing board Mum, amazing. I can completely understand the need to take more and more photos. So many babies.
Anne@Grit and Giggles´s last blog post ..Last Night at The Farm