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Prolific Pond

© Vickie Ferguson

Well, I was going to write about poisonous toads that are the size of dinner plates but there has been a proliferation of new life at the infamous pond!

For those of you visiting my site for the first time let me explain about the waterhole. The office park where I work has a lovely man made pond that is brimming with life. Each day, I walk down to the pond with fellow co-worker Kathy Albert to see what we can see.

For the past two months we've been watching the progress of a brood of 7 Muskovey ducks. Mom duck left about two weeks ago and we assume she's now nesting elsewhere. There are several ponds in the area and so we believe she is nearby and working on another batch. Busch Gardens is right across the street and we know birds from the gardens have flown the coop and visited the pond.

Anyway, along with about a zillion dragonflies that range from deep blue to brilliant fire engine red, a bevy of birds including egrets, ibis, seagulls, cardinals, and mockingbirds, tadpoles, some sort of upside down water bug, fish and a pair of prehistoric frogs that scream at us when we approach, yesterday brought the arrival of 6 brand spanking new mallard duck babies!

There they were, just bobbing along like corks in the pond with mom close by. There's another pair of Mallards that have been at the pond for several weeks along with a third fella or lady, not sure which, that flies in at night and leaves in the morning. Go figure.

Anyway, back to the babies. They are so cute! Little black and yellow boblets that were scooting all around the pond like little jet-propelled motorboats. I laughed till my sides hurt.

Kathy and I had our containers of cracked corn to feed the whole crowd (we do this daily) and the Muskovey's came right up and were pecking away. The Mallards, who are usually very skittish, followed suit and were gobbling up every snacklet they could get their bills around. Then, here comes mom and the babies. Just big as day they paddled their tiny feet and aligned themselves near the Muskoveys. Those little fellas just ate and ate like there was no tomorrow.

When I left for the day, I checked on them again and they were near the pond's edge with the four Mallards creating a barrier between them and everything else.