Oh baby, we have ducklings!

No, not Franny’s ducklings. I haven’t seen Franny in a long time. Not sure if she’s sitting on her nest or became lunch for the eagle. However, Clemant is here. He and a group of drakes have been chasing the mother of the ducklings. They don’t seem to care that she has youngins’. Sex is sex. Mother nature can be so cruel at times, sigh. I even took to shouting and waving my arms to get them to leave her alone. Nope. No luck. Okay, back to the babies.

We started with seven.

We dropped down to five.

And now we’re at four.

It’s sad to see the numbers dwindling. Hopefully, we’ll hold steady here.

Who’s eating the ducklings? Well, the carp are starting the season at a good size…

…and they’re getting brave. One keeps coming close to the beach where the ducklings spend their time.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the carp sprout legs and start walking on my grass. Now that would throw a curve ball in Darwin’s theory.

As long as I’m on the topic of dwindling chicks, I found a robin nest.

A pair of grackles attacked it later and ate the eggs except for two, which ended up smashed on the driveway. The robins were going ballistic but, sadly, the grackles won. Give me a break, Mama Nature. What’s with the violence this season? Okay, where was I? Oh yes, the ducklings. A different hen arrived this morning with a new clutch of newborns.

 I wonder if they go to sleep teasing the smallest duckling.”Haha Fred, you’re gonna get eaten, nah nah.” “Mom, Timmy is picking on me again.” “You chicks go to sleep or I’m going to feed you all to the snapping turtle.” “Psst, Fred, did you feel that. A snapper just swam by.” “MOOOMMMM!” As the youngest sibling I know all about teasing.

I’ll leave you with a montage of chick photos. Why? Because they’re so damn cute.

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Blessed be :}