The Duck

Several weeks ago the boys came in from playing outside and said that a duck laid an egg on our patio. We figured it was another of their tall tales, but they insisted it was true, so we checked it out. Sure enough a duck had made a nest in the corner of our patio and laid some eggs. We didn't see her again for a few days, but when she came back, she sat on the nest and didn't leave for weeks at a time. One day Chase came in and said his soccer ball almost hit the duck. After some interrogation, we discovered that he had kicked it at her on purpose. He wanted me to get the ball because it was right next to her and she got mad and flared up her feathers whenever he tried to grab it. I told him to sit on a rock and very slowly reach up and put one finger on top of the ball and pull it toward himself. He tried a few times and she kept getting mad. He finally got his finger all the way on top of the ball. The duck, with the speed of a snake, snapped at chase and bit his finger. He stopped throwing things at the duck after that.




Last week we discovered about a half dozen ducklings exploring the rocks on our patio. When ever we came out to look at them, the mama duck swept them into the nest and covered them. We had hoped she would get used to us and let them run around, but the next day they were all gone, never to be seen again.