The Elf Herself writes:
Yesterday we were surprised/delighted to see a mother mallard with 12 fuzzy ducklings waddling in line next to our back fence. We don't have a fountain or other water feature in our yard, and the nearest stream/slough is half a mile away. The ducklings weren't fledged yet, so they didn't fly over the six-foot fence. They obviously squeezed under the fence, which has some little "tunnels" toward an alley. They busily kept running their beaks over the dew-wet blades of grass, and keep eating some little flying insects, identity undetermined. We feared for their lives, since there are at least 6 feral cats prowling the neighborhood. (Well, not entirely feral, since some of them have been observed being let into neighbor's houses.) All are kept outdoors at night. My question is this: is anybody here familiar with ducks? (Common white farm ducks are descended from an albino strain of mallards centuries ago, so I've read.) The mother duck looked to me to be slightly smaller than domestic white Leghorn hens (which my parents raised decades ago.) My question is this: can one female mallard brood 12 chicks of her own? Might some of them been taken over from some other duck's "nest?" How could one single duck even brood 12 eggs at once? Ragwort, do you know? (They're all gone today. Our next-door neighbors have a fountain that feeds a very small pond--I wonder if that's where they spent the night? We're not on the best of terms with said neighbors, else I'd ask them.
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