Summer Ducklings

We feel very honored when the mother ducks bring the babies up into the yard. Looks like they will be quite helpful with the clean up task under the bird feeder. Today there were actually two groups of mothers with babies in the yard, these little guys and a slightly older group. They kept their distance and shared nicely the whole time with the older group mostly napping and these young ones filling up.

Beaver

 

 

 

We were pleased to find the beaver dam this weekend and even more pleased to see one out of the water.

Baby Ducks

 

 

 

Great Egret

 

Duckling Rescue

When we went for an early morning walk, we noticed the mother mallard swimming around a ring float in the lake that is near the fountains. It appeared to be calling to a duckling that was stuck inside the float. When we got home, we saw that there was still much activity and calling around the float. We took the boat over and were surprised to find that there were actually four cute baby ducks swimming in the inner part of the ring but couldn't make it out. Mike gave them each a boost and the baby ducks quickly caught up with the mother. She actually has a total of eight, but we were too busy to photograph them all.

 

 

 

Chickadee

 

Eastern Kingbird

It seems that eastern kingbirds have plenty of insects to eat this year.

 

A few times, we've noticed the kingbird chasing the heron, much like other birds chase hawks or crows. It dives at it and hits it on the back. Here's one blurry photo of a chase. We also like it because if you enlarge it by clicking on it, you can see a bit of the red on the kingbirds head that is rarely visible. Perhaps he was angry.

 

Flickers

While out in the boat, we saw two male northern flickers. They appeared to be having a discussion over territory, but it was fairly civil.
We like the top photo because it looks like one very wide flicker.