Life as an artist’s wife is always a little more interesting when my husband is on a mission. When we started seeing the Wood Ducks earlier this Spring, Mikey's mission was to photograph their beautiful design and learn their behavior, habits, and schedules. And, with any luck, hopefully witness Jump Day – the day baby Wood Ducks jump out of the nest box and make their big splash into the world!
We titled this mission: Operation Baby Duck Watch.
One rainy Sunday morning while letting the dogs out, I thought I saw some baby duck heads bobbing up and down in the tall grassy area behind one of the two nest boxes – the "south condo." (Read about the nest boxes here.)
Mikey put on his rain jacket, headed out back, and found one of the babies trailing behind the rest of the brood! Mikey's heart melted when he saw the 'lil guy...in the rain...and desperately wanted to scoop him up. He resisted, and the baby waddled off towards his momma. So, we missed Jump Day for the south condo...but it gave us hope for the north condo!
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| After Mikey saw the baby duck in the tall grass, he checked the nest box. Cracked shells and little feathers were all that remained. |
A couple days later when we saw the momma duck fly out of the north condo for a meal (she had a very regular eating schedule), Mikey went out to assess the situation.
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| Listening closely for any baby quacks. |
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| YES! He
heard a very faint quacking...which actually sounded more like a bird
chirping. This means Jump Day should be within the next day or so! |
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| Mikey pondering about what to do next... |
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| Gotta keep momma duck well-fed, so Mikey put out corn so she could stay her close to her nest box. |
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| Let's tidy up and get the office windows sparkly-clean for clear picture-taking! |
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With the windows nice and clean, it's time to make some final adjustments to the camera lens and tripod. Everything's gotta be perfect for Jump Day!
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| In addition to the camera, Mikey also set up the IPad to video record the potential excitement. |
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| A close-up of the nest box. We've been focusing intensely on that black hole for days! |
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| Mikey the photographer is ready to get a jump on Jump Day! The bad news...this day ended up NOT being Jump Day. The good news...everything is all set up for the next day! |
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| Here's a view from behind the nest box towards the house. If only the momma duck knew all we were doing in preparation for Jump Day! |
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| Well, this is a surprise...the baby TURKEYS that we recently spotted on our land made an unexpected guest appearance (you can barely see them in this picture...in front of the two big turkeys!) We adore you baby turkeys, but we gotta keep Mikey's camera focused on the nest box! More on these cuties in a future blog post! |
Our anticipation is building...are we going to see baby ducks or not?! Check back soon to find out!
Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith.
Be courageous. Be strong.
-1 Corinthians 16:13
