Mallard duck eggs hatching

We love mallard ducks. And they love our flower tubs. They nested in one of them for the past several years in a row. Mother duck started a tad early this year. We felt bad for her as she had to endure a few nights of freezing temperatures in early March. She persevered. So after a total of six weeks beginning with the first egg, she was rewarded with a brood of eleven (we thought, more on it later) ducklings!

There were 14 eggs; 1 was eaten by a crow

One day, she was startled when I tried to take a picture of her on the nest.

Every evening she would leave the nest to bond with her mate

The eggs hatched 28 days later

Hours old duckies going off into the wild.

Several hours later, we went to clean out the tub. To our surprise, there was a duckling left behind! It must have been the last one to hatch. It seemed sluggish when we discovered it, but later became more alert. And oh so adorable. We ran around looking for the brood, to no avail. Luckily, one of the marina employees (thanks Valerie!) knows someone who had experience raising ducks, so we left it with her. Hopefully, it will survive.

These are some of the adventures of living aboard on the Tennessee River. It is such a joy to watch the beauty of nature as it unfolds before our eyes. We look forward to seeing the ducklings grow and continue its way of life.

This post is shared on Through My Lens and Our World Tuesday.

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