So, it's been a while since I posted on the blog, speaking of time lapses. I was doing pretty well until about the middle of May, when I took a vacation break for hanging out in the woods and hunting for tasty things to eat. Since the beautiful weather has kept enticing me out into the gardens and woods, it's hard to find a time to spend indoors working on preparing pictures and to share!
The good news about this particular lapse is that I have a fun series for this installment.
Baloo smelled something interesting in a low growing juniper bush close to the beach. He wanted to investigate further, but I spotted the eggs and kept him from disturbing the nest. There were eight little potential ducklings just waiting to be hatched.
Mom Mallard was nearby dabbling in the shallows and worrying about her little ones, so we moved on to keep her from getting too nervous.
However, a few days later, we were able to catch Mom actually sitting on her nest. If you look carefully, you can make out not just the wing feathers, but also her face and eye looking right at the camera through the greenery. Look for the golden eye toward the top and a little left of center.
We actually got to see the little ducklings in the nest one evening, but I didn't want Baloo to ruffle their little downy feathers, so I didn't get close enough for a picture. They don't hang around in the nest long after they're cracked out of the eggs, so the next time we spotted them, they were already swimming out in the bay.
The whole entourage was out for an evening paddle. I particularly like the little one in the back - doesn't it look like it's staring off into its own little wonderful world of adventure?
