A week or so some friends showed us the quite unpromising location of this sitting duck’s nest.: the corner of their house made by the outside staircase descending from the second floor. Silly duck. A dog and a cat both live upstairs. We didn’t give this lady, far from a friendly pond, much chance of survival.
Whether because of good luck or watchfulness on the part of the second floor family, there was Good News today. The eggs hatched.
We had the good fortune to arrive in the midst of it all. This photo is hard to figure out, but it’s a wet duckling struggling out of the egg:
There’s still the problem of pets upstairs, and the distance from water. When we left, our friends were discussing whether they should put the new family in a box and transfer them to the closest pond, buy a child’s wading pool and set it up next to the pan of bread they put out every day, or simply let nature take her course.
An Ex-Expatriate 
If it were up to me I’d shuttle them off to the pond. I had ducks once…boy did they ever leave a mess on the property (especially the garage), and this is with an acre of land to waddle all over!
A few days later the ducks and their mama were gone, no one knows where. Hope it was somewhere happy and not some predator’s tummy.
What a beautiful story. Those ducklings are absolutely adorable.
Thanks, Karen. I’ve got my fingies crossed for the babies.
There is hope everywhere we look…
If we keep our eyes open…
Oh quick! Send your friends this! http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/a/feedingducksbread.htm Those adorable ducklings can’t exist on a bread diet! As for the rest, one would think that nature would guide the ducks to what they need in terms of water. That being said, if there is a way to transport them to what is clearly a desirable duck environment it might not be a bad idea. Thanks for the lovely photos and story. May the entire family flourish!
Thanks for the link. I’ll find out later this week what’s up with the new little family.