Hi All,
New life is coming from my Memorial Terrace Garden. Our rainy duck weather today in Minneapolis greeted 8 new Mallard ducklings.
The mother duck chose well. A big pot on my terrace about 7 feet from the sidewalk with a morning glory trellis that limited the size of the bird that could access the nest which came in handy when a Canadian goose tried to take over the nest a couple of weeks ago.
The goose could squeeze into the space but couldn’t dislodge the trellis assembly with 2 years of vines helping the cause.
Mallards started nesting on my terrace last year when I started leaving the vines & stocks from last years morning glories & Sunflower plants. I think the area resembled a wetland area & the old growth provided cover.
The parade of ducklings began with more activity on the nest. I noticed some small heads bobbing over lip of the pot. Then the mother duck started moving out of the nest & calling to the babies to follow. One by one they started jumping out of the pot, some to the terrace floor then to the ground while others went directly down to the ground. Once mother duck left the terrace I could get a little closer to take some pictures & record some of the sounds.
Before the ducklings could be seen I did get a few pictures with a selfie stick using my Apple Watch as a way to see what the iphone could see and as a trigger to take the picture. One time the iphone got too close so mother duck pecked at it with her beak.
Here’s pictures of the adventure of the day here at my apartment In Minneapolis MN:
Moments to Share Along the Way 