On Friday, May 13th I got this note from Earlyne and Gene alerting me to the baby ducks spotted on the pond. We have all been waiting for the first sighting but none of us expected this.

Hi-In case you haven’t heard or seen them, there are 14 hiding in the grass just west of Myron’s(NE corner of pond). It is not a good location, with people and dogs going by on the path. Arlene was on their deck when I walked by today and pointed out that the parents had led them across the path to a bush in their yard and were hiding there. We talked softly and suddenly they were running across to the west, back to the grasses.
Very cute and tiny. Of course, I didn’t have a camera or phone with me.

So when I spotted them on Saturday, I ran for my camera but was not fast enough. I finally got a shot of them on Sunday but they move so fast… it took 3 different times for me to get them actually in focus. We have counted as many as 24 and as few as 21, so that seems to be in the ball park as to the number. With a little research, Mallards don’t usually have this many in a brood, so she must have inherited a few from another mom, poor thing. They are never in line and seem to burst on the scene when they appear. We have seen two other momma ducks, one with 3 and another with 6 ducklings.

Griff did a blog about them on Locally Grown.  Check it out.