Hatchlings

[corporalyoyu]

Yesterday, I noticed a small duck family walking along the White Horse Pike. Upon closer inspection, it was a LARGE family of very tiny hatchlings. There were at least 13. It was hard to count them, because they played leapfrog to keep up with their mother, who was limping, but very determined to make it to water. Not wanting to see the family get creamed while crossing streets, I followed them and stopped traffic as they crossed. The ducklings were exhausted. Every time mom hesitated, they all sat down at once. The babies were so small that they struggled getting over curbs, so I had to lift up their little butts to help out. They cried to mom, but she caught on that I wasn't going to kill her kids. Many blocks down the road, the storm hit full force. The wind was so strong, and the roadside floods so harsh that the kids were getting swept away and I had to scoop them up and return them to mom. She loved the rain, drank a good amount and decided the rest and hide under a bush behind a bank. I returned to my car - soaked completely through and laughing when cars splashed me. It was great. I returned with a large cat carrier to get the family to Newton Creek - in front of Dad's house, but they had found a different hiding spot. I'm worried about them. They're so small and pretty far from home. Wish I could do more.



You can't tell how many and how tiny they were from this picture. What appears to be a single kid is really three or four bunched together. They were so cute. At the risk of sounding sappy, it was amazing to watch the bond between mom and her kids. I guess you'd have to be there to know what I'm talking about.
I snapped a boring little video showing exactly how many there were!: It's up now! Sorry for the terrible vid quality, but you get the idea. :)

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