Australian Wood Ducks.... and more rain!

Rain....
There was another 50mm in the rain gauge this morning.

Australian Wood Ducks....

We often see ducks in the paddocks or on the dam, but there is one pair of wood ducks that seem to be here all year round. I commented to hubby the other day that we haven't seen any ducklings this year. He reckoned they probably had them hidden after what happened last year!

You see, last spring we saw the wood ducks with a heap of tiny ducklings following them around, but unfortunately each time we saw them over the next week there were less and less ducklings, until one day there were none. We were left wondering which predator had snacked on the poor babies.... snake.... goanna.... or perhaps something else. Nature really makes me sad at times.

When I drove in the driveway this morning I spotted the wood ducks in the paddock and there were some medium size ducklings with them. As soon as they heard me mother duck was off down the hill with her babies following. I raced inside to grab the camera hoping to be able to get a couple of pics of the ducklings before she hid them.

It was my lucky day as mother duck must have stopped in her tracks when she thought I had gone. Here she is with three ducklings....

Father duck is further up the hill keeping a look out!

He makes a sound.... oops... mother duck knows I'm back and she's heading further down the hill....

behind some scrub....

across the track....

then the ducklings disappear over the bank of the dam as mother stands guard....

(can you spot the ducklings backside disappearing)

then mother duck follows her ducklings....

So it seems the wood ducks are being more protective of their ducklings this year. I hope I get to see them again before they are grown up :-)

Have a great day.

--
BevB