Wait for me!
These ducklings and their Wood Duck mom were exploring the middle of the pond, back and forth.
Mom was working hard keeping track of her charges. A male Wood Duck was nearby but didn’t appear to be helping with the minute to minute supervision.
When they finally spread out a bit I counted 18 ducklings!
As juvenile Wood Ducks grow it becomes harder to tell them from the adult females. These two were hanging out getting some sun on a recent afternoon, showing some of their newly developed colors.
Not content to just sit, one of them took a walk to the other end of the ramp to see what a third duck was up to.
The alligator ramp they are on is not far from shore and any ducks that are on it usually head for the middle of the pond after a few photographs by passers by.
A group of nine Wood Ducks were hanging out on an Alligator Ramp, preening and enjoying the late afternoon sun late last week.
Nothing in particular seemed to have startled them, but by twos and threes they flew off.
As the ducks shifted around some flashes of blue were evident. Some of the adult males have lost their full breeding colors and the juvenile males are starting to show some color.
One juvenile was left by herself, pacing up and down. She finally decided joining the pack was the right thing to do.
A mother Wood Duck usually stays with her ducklings until they are grown to near adult size, the “teen age” stage. The males are sometimes around but don’t seem to supervise the young the way I’ve seen the females herd their charges around.
No adult was in sight for these three ducklings and I suspect the mother became lunch for a predator. The survival rate for the ducklings is low and the adults can fall victim to alligators, hawks, or eagles. These three were sticking together, swimming around the pond to various perches. As plant eaters these ducklings don’t rely on the parent bringing food, they just eat what is around them.
This board they are settled on is an Alligator ramp that has been slowly sinking into the pond over the last year.
The surface of the pond is covered with a mixture of green Duck Weed and some variation of Mosquito Fern, the red plant. Zoom in on the closer image of the dragonfly perched on the surface to see the plants in more detail.
The oldest Wood Duck chicks on the pond right now are almost indistinguishable from their mothers.
This old alligator platform gets smaller every week, either sinking or rotting into the pond. This small family squeezes together on it to groom and soak up the afternoon sun.
From the end of the pond you get a view of the platform with the sun glaring off the duckweed. In silhouette you can see mother duck standing a little taller and with more head feathers than her four youngsters. She had turned just a bit to see which way I was headed.
Perched on a log a group of male Wood Ducks were just hanging around, doing some stretching.
At least three were lined up on this log and a few more were in the water behind this clump of trees.
Time for a swim, one by one they took to the water.
There is an open pond at the edge of the cypress swamp and this fellow was going off on his own.
Undecided, this Wood Duck drake paced on top of the nesting box. Were there hatchlings inside about to pop out? Was he waiting for a mate? Questions I never got the answers to.
Eventually he took a plunge off the side.
Splash down!
A short paddle took him back to the box. He spent some time contemplating his next move under the protection of some overhanging branches.
Mama Wood Duck and her brood posed for a family portrait on one of the new alligator ramps installed around the rice field. I counted fourteen chicks while they were sitting still, but some were snoozing with their heads down so there may have been more. All About Birds says their clutch can have up to sixteen eggs.
A Common Gallinule was doing his best to photo bomb the portrait, paddling along behind them. I waited, hoping he would move along.
He did, but Mama felt it was time to move on, too, and they all bailed off in one fluid motion off the side of the ramp away from me.
Well, what else do they have to do? When they aren’t eating ducks often swim around, and perhaps the female was testing to see if the male would follow. He did.
This Wood Duck pair went back and forth in front of me several times, never quite making it into the sun patch closer to me before they disappeared with the Teals around the corner.
There is no mistaking the shape of a male Wood Duck and it’s always a treat to see them close enough to see their colors.
This pair was hanging around with a small group of Blue Winged Teals, paddling around the edge of a small pond.
There is a walking trail that loops along both sides of this pond and the ducks gradually work their way from side to side, not in any great hurry, but changing direction as people pass by.
Click on any photo for larger view.
