This is the first of two 2015 family stories. This set hatched very early in the season while the drought of the prior summer continued into the new year. The water level in the pond was significantly lower and all the animals seemed to be scrounging for food. There were days where I would see the mother leave the pond in the morning and then return later in the day with one less duckling. One of the ducklings was definitely a 'runt of the litter'. She was only about two thirds the size of the other ducklings, but she was one of the few which survived to adulthood, and she was the first to fly. I called her Minnie because she was a miniature duck compared to her siblings.

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This family of 12 ducklings hatched at the very beginning of March 2015.
[A mother duck swims with two lines of ducklings, each with six ducklings in them, follow her. The are nearly lined up in six sets of two in a row behind her.]

Two of the crew were quite vocal in their joy to be alive.
[Ten of the twelve ducklings are in a grouping on the water in multiple rows. Of the three in the front row, two of the ducklings have their heads tilted up and their little bills wide open.]

Although Dad didn't interfere with the ducklings, he did stay close by.
(taken through the fence)
[A side view of a male mallard part way through eclipse plumage. His head is teal-colored on the top and a few scattered places on the side. His neck and chest are rust colored.]

Four days later only ten ducklings remain. The paddling of their little feet creates lots of tiny wakes in the water.
[A view of straight behind Mom as she swims away from the camera with ten ducklings following her. The ducklings are mostly in two colums athough the one column is a little wiggly at the tail end.]

Afternoon siesta. Although all are not visible in the image, there are ten sleeping ducklings under her.
[A feamle mallard has her bill tucked back into her wing as she stands on the grass. Under her the heads of four ducklings are completely visible and all four have their eyes closed. Duckling eyelids are yellow with a brown stripe across them. The edges of the bills of two ducklings are seen tucked under her tail. The rest of the ducklings are hidden under her.]

Two weeks after they hatched, the original twelve are down to 5 ducklings. Minnie is at the end of the line and only about two thirds the size of the ducklings in front of her.
[Mom swims to the right with five ducklings in a row behind her. The last duckling is nearly one half the size of the one in front of her.]

Only three ducklings remain by the time they are four weeks old. Minnie is on the far left and clearly much smaller than her brother (in the middle) and her sister.
[The three ducklings stand in shallow water. They are still downy, but now are white and brown. The duckling on teh far left has a shorter, smaller neck and head as well as body than the other two ducklings.]

Although Minnie was definitely smaller than her siblings, she was quite a vocal forthright duck which might be why she's facing the water while the others look into the hillside.
[The three ducklings sit in the grass near the water's edge. Minnie faces the water while her two siblings face into the hillside. The ducks are partially obscured by the grass growing in the area.]

As they matured, Minnie continued to have a shorter neck and shorter body length than her siblings.
[The three ducklings swimming from left to right in the pond. Minnie is on the bottom and has a skinnier, shorter neck and while her body is just as full as her siblings, her overall length is noticeabley shorter.]

Minnie stretching her wings for flying lessons. The ducklings are just under 12 weeks old. I had seen Minnie flying the day before this, but didn't have my camera with me to record it.
[All three ducklings are on the dirt near the water's edge. Minnie on the left has her wings fully outstretched as she stands upright. Her two siblings stand on the ground in normal duck positions.]

A short while later Minnie goes airborne. She's not able to get far above the water, but she is able to completely clear it.
The pond is L-shaped and she's going round the bend of the L.
[The back end of a duck flying about 12-18 inches above the water.]

Her sister is mostly in the air, but does not clear it enough to keep her feet dry.
Their brother didn't even try that night. He wasn't flying until a week or two later, but he did eventually learn.
[The back end of a duck flying about 4-6 inches above the water. There is a series of wakes behind her because at least one foot kept touching down.]

About a week or two before the evening I recorded them flying, an adult male mallard had come to the pond and stayed with the ducklings. Not sure if he was Dad or an uncle, but it seemed he was there to help them learn to fly. Not long after the above photos were taken, the girls would individually disappear from the pond for short periods of time. Minnie was usually gone longer which is not surprising given her forthright nature. So much world to explore! She would return to the pond huffing and puffing, but eventually catch her breath. Takes a lot of muscles and energy to fly. One morning I noticed only the boy in the pond. As I headed down the sidewalk on my exercise route, I saw three ducks circling above the nearby Sam's Club parking lot. Two were female and one noticeably smaller than the other. They were doing laps above the parking lot following a male. I believe it was Minnie and her sister practicing with the male who'd been with them. Not much longer after that, they all disappeared from the pond.

Continue to page 5 for the 2015 family story of the ducks who walked right over me.

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All photos © S. M. Garver