Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Room With a View

The windows here at The Room overlook a pond occupied by a small flock of Mallard ducks. Recently, a group of Canada Geese has been in residence, as well. Here is a link to the sound I wake to each morning. The pond is just outside of my bedroom, and the ducks seem to favor my side of the water at sunrise. They take a morning stroll across the lawn at about 7:00 am every day; I suspect that one of the neighbors throws out some seed at about that time each morning.

One poor drake has a backwards foot. I don't know whether this is due to a birth defect or an injury. It makes him a bit of a pegleg, and he hobbles when he walks. The social worker in me wants to connect him to services. I wonder if there is a local nature group or veterinarian who might be able to correct his defect. He's still pretty functional, but I wonder how well he will be able to evade the cats lurking around if he's caught any distance from the water when one appears. I guess that's natural selection, but I don't have to like it.

I don't have any photos of my ducks to share right now. I'm posting this at night, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to try to take a picture. I'll shoot for an image of the ducks for Fave Foto Friday this week. Here's an image of a Mallard I found online:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can't go wrong with ducks or geese, even if they are noisy. But my son would say differently - he had to defend himself against a ravenous flock of Canada geese when he wasn't much taller than they were by swinging at them with a loaf of bread. Wish I'd had my camera...

Virginia Gal said...

Merci - you are a sweetheart, trying to get that duck some social services for his backward foot. Perhaps there is a reason that particular duck landed behind your house, maybe it is because God knows what a kind person you are and that this duck might be looked after by you.

Can't wait to see the pics of these guys, I feel like I know them a little bit already.

Pax Romano said...

Come on, you know the system ... get that poor bird under services!

Joe Tornatore said...

sounds ducky.

Merci said...

Hi everyone!

The ducks seem to be hibernating right now (it's been very cold). I did get a couple of shots of them last week, so I'll post one for THIS week's FFF.

Weary Hag said...

Merci ... I love seeing and hearing the ducks and geese out on our pond here. We have one just outside the house as well and our bedroom window faces it. This winter, it froze over a little earlier than normal, and it's so fun to watch the geese walk or stand on the ice - cackling their little heads off - they remind me of penguins sometimes.

Have missed ya!