At least 10 yrs ago (I've lost track but our son was young and he is almost 27 now) maybe longer, we've had a pair of Mallards come to our yard every spring. I had no idea they lived this long in the wild! They come back every year like clockwork.

They feed off the bird feeder spills and hang out in my gardens. Then when Mrs is ready to lay her eggs (typically about 2 weeks), they move down to the stream in front and make a nest. Our Black and White cat (who is on my signature) loves to chase them. So the ducks have various coping strategies to watch for her.

The funniest is sitting on our neighbor's roof (it is a flat Mansard type) and quacking to each other from up there. This morning Mr. flew in, and we looked up and sure enough she was up there. This was a quick opportunity to record the roof behavior, where they have direct viewing angles to the feeder and the seed. (they also like it up there when it rains, because a small pool forms and they like that). My husband calls that roof the ducks' helicopter pad, because it is high up at 2 stories and quite large. And we've noticed that ducks are NOT precise flyers or landers. These ducks do "talk" to each other. We've watched them make various different sounds, bob their heads a certain way, for a few minutes and then take off in the same direction suddenly.
They are funny and very interesting!

So here is Mrs. QuackQuack: Picture #1

Picture #2 is our fountain from last spring...at this time. We don't have any of these flowers yet...we are running about 10 days behind last year.
I hope the fountain is okay for this site...it is a famous statue in Europe after all
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The ducks love the fountain too. This year we don't have the fountain going yet. If anyone is interested... my FIL loved this statue ...so when he passed back in the early 70's, we got it from MIL who DID NOT want it anymore LOL... It is about 40 yrs old, and I had to glue the head back on...and repair him several times.

Mrs. D, would you just adopt me!????
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Your pictures of where you live just make me wanna go ahhhhh.

We live in a very unusual place. Right in the center of just horrific city traffic and congestion. We live along a stream that goes thru SE Michigan many miles to empty in the St. Clair. We are like an Oasis.

Our area used to be owned by the Grand Trunk Railroad, back in late 1800's and very early 1900's. It was an employee park. So it has huge old oaks, which you can see behind Mrs QuackQuack. When Grand Trunk sold it, it became a housing development. Our home was built in 1915. The one next door is a new generation mega buck thing which occurs when the older homes are torn down.
So we still have quaint, and the largest yard in the whole area which I have naturalized over the years with lovely stuff. This home was owned by my husband's grandfather, and we bought it in 1976.
I am glad now I put in all that effort, to use self sustaining natural plantings, because now I am too arthritic to do as much as I used to.

All those little blue flowers are Scilla and we have much more than shows in the picture. In fact we have the equiv of a regular city lot, filled with them.
(we call it the "inner back yard" as opposed to the "outer" area of our 1/2 acre). It takes alot of raking of oak leaves to expose them. Hubby has just started that task this weekend.
My favorite spring flower is the Mertensia (Virginia Bluebells).. I have two large spreads of those as well. I'll take a pic of that when they bloom, in about 3 weeks. Everything is so late this year...the latest we have ever recorded living here for 38 yrs now.

The arrival of the ducks is always an event for us now. Soon the hummingbirds will be back, and I always look forward to that!
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I have always been a nature gal...and all the living things sense that and come to me! LOL

very nice pictures!

I raise ducks, but a different kind, they're Muscovies, and are the only American duck not descended from Mallards.


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Muscovy ducks don't quack, they coo and trill and hiss.

many people think they're unattractive, because the drakes have lumpy red caruncles all over their faces, but they bring me a lot of joy with their daily antics.

and yes, they DEFINITELY talk to each other.

they hold what I call "conclaves" - long involved meetings, where they determine who's in charge, and the exact pecking order below that, and who's allowed to mate with whom.

also, the ducks who are on nests act VERY cranky when they come out for a few minutes, twice a day, for food, water, and pottie breaks.

those females fluff up their feathers, and bend their wings out and upwards, and make this funny chirrupping noise that warns EVERYONE to get outta their way, 'cause they're in a big ol' hurry, and don't have time for any nonsense.

PS: I LOVE your fountain, mrsd!

We would love to see the duck conclaves in action.
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You know I read somewhere that when birds sit on the nest their bodies
make alot of progesterone to make them sleepy etc. (slow them down).
No wonder your sitting birds are cranky!
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So I guess that would be an equiv. of PMS in humans? LOL

Our Mother Eagle at Norfolk as been sitting thru sleet, rainstorms (2 days long),
80 degree temps (she pants dramatically when this happens), high winds, you name it. It is dramatic to watch.
I saw Daddy Eagle approach her this morning with a stick offering for the nest, and she got up to eat and do eagle maintenance. There are two more weeks of this for her!

Thanks for the compliments. My hubby loves the statue too, I am neutral about it. My son used to call him Mr. PeePee. LOL

Wow, Bluebells have been my very favorite as well ever since I was a tiny little girl.

Hey, I'm potty trained and won't go where I'm not supposed to!
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I think of it sort of like a woman being nine months pregnant.


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like, "Why isn't this OVER yet?"

Mallards sit for only 28 days, but Muscovies have to sit for 35, with only two short breaks a day.

here's a conclave, in my yard:


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you can tell it's an important meeting, because they're leaning all forward, talking to each other, and negotiating their status.

here's a Muscovy duck and drake (Harold and Maude) on my roof... when they land, mi esposo says "Incoming - at the landing pad!!"


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and here's Choco (a Chocolate Muscovy), with her newly-hatched ducklings:


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Thats a quackvention!

I think those ducks are interesting.

Does this group just keep growing? Or do you sell them?

And I like the ones on the roof too. Ducks seem pretty clumsy when landing etc. They take off well tho.
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We've had wood ducks here a few times.
They sit in trees you know. That is a very interesting and fun thing to see.
But for some reason they are not coming back now.

The wood ducks have claws on their feets
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We think the raccoons got them once...we heard screams in the night and then they never came back....sniff sniff.

we sell eggs (very yummy!) and breeding stock (1 male, 3 females, for example)

and dressed plucked ducks, for dinner too.

our flock is around 60 ducks at any one time.

Muscovies also have big ol' claws on their webby feet, and their favorite place to hang out is by my pond.

I have 8 moms sitting in nest boxes right now.

we'll have new ducklings any day.


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