About a month ago riding the Chesapeake Farms wildlife auto tour, I had stopped for several minutes, trying to get my lens on a bird, to no avail.
It was then, just up ahead on my left about 30 feet, an array of excited chirps and chattering filled the woods’ silence.
Slowly moving my car forward, passing a clump of bushes and large tree trunk was Wood Duck nest box #17. And adorable, chattering Wood Ducks were fledging!
“Weeee!” (plop!)
“Woohoo!” (plop!)
No time to grab my other camera with wider lens on the passenger seat. I had my 200-500mm lens in my hand; so I stayed at 200mm and clicked away as ducklings #3 through #9 jumped 4-6 feet (1.2-1.8 meters) down to the water!
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“The Scene”
(at 200mm)
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I am sharing this delightful event in sequence, with further photo cropping unless a duckling was sailing out.
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Ducklings #3 with #4 trying to see
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Ducklings #3 and #4
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“My turn!”
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Ducklings #5 not waiting as #6 looks on
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Duckling #6 pondering
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Ducklings #6 getting ready to jump with #7 looking on
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Duckling #7
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“I don’t know about this…..”
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“It sure looks pretty far down…..”
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“Okay….I think I got this….”
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“Here I come!”
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Ducklings #8 and #9
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Duckling #8 pushing off for the plunge
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Duckling #9 all alone
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“Wait for me!”
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Within one minute, all nine ducklings were now in the water below.
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Wood Duck ducklings
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I quickly scanned the trees above, looking for Momma but didn’t see her. I pulled away slowly so she could come down to them.
Twenty minutes later I passed by this location again on my way out of the farm and not a duckling in sight. Momma had done her job and escorted them away to safer waters deeper in the woods. 🙂
It was surely a delight to see this in person, Sandy. If I was super quick and had more hands to record as well 😉 , the audio would have been a bonus, they all seem so excited. Pure wonderful!
Thank you, Mic! I truly got lucky with this delightful opportunity. I thankfully remembered to turn off my car to help with my pumping adrenaline and staying as calm/stable as possible! 😉 🙂
Oh my gosh! This was totally delightful Donna, especially as you watched them make their
escape one by one counting them off and viewing their jump! That was exciting!
Love this post!
Thank you, Eddie, so happy you enjoyed this! This is one of those blessed nature opportunities we dream about, one I will certainly not forget it. I floated on Cloud 9 the rest of the day! 🙂
Thank you!! My goodness, my adrenaline was pumping crazy, not sure how I got through it with success, so happy whew!! I floated on Cloud 9 the rest of the day for sure! 🙂
What beautiful captures Donna of these cute little ones. Love the way they dive like possums. They look so much like our own baby wood ducks at that age.
Thank you, Ashley! It was truly a special delight, being there in the quiet and then to suddenly hear their chatter of excitement, AND then to see this! A blessed moment I will not forget!!
How beautiful, you’ve captured such an important moment on the lives of these ducklings… when they fledged, all at once!. Great job, Donna! Keep up the good work. 🙂 👍
Thank you, HJ, so happy you enjoyed these! It was truly a delight for me to get this lucky opportunity. I’m reliving my Cloud 9 now with the post share!! 😊
Oh how exciting!!! I saw video of ducklings fledging on an episode of “Nature” on PBS. How lucky you were to witness this in person! Fantastic pictures, Donna! The picture of #6 pondering is especially sweet. 😊
I, too, had only seen this happen in a nature video. It was so exciting to see it unfold as well as hear the excited chatter of the ducklings. Wish I could have recorded them, it was truly delightful. Little #6 didn’t have long to ponder, I imagine one or two got bumped out from the ones still trying to get out from behind. 😊
Adorable! Wonderful capture. Thanks for sharing, Donna!
Thank you, Martha! I was going to try to do a slideshow for the photo sequence, but it didn’t seem to present as well. Glad you enjoyed this delight!
Lovely to share the delight a d fear of the first jump with these little ones. Beautiful Donna.
It was surely a delight to see this in person, Sandy. If I was super quick and had more hands to record as well 😉 , the audio would have been a bonus, they all seem so excited. Pure wonderful!
Moments like this make living great!!! Thanks for sharing.
Great pictures and I love the story with them! Maggie
Thank you, Maggie, it was a true delight for me to get this lucky opportunity!
Delightful photos indeed! Great work, Donna!
Thank you, Hien, it was truly wonderful; I’ll not forget this lucky opportunity!
👌👌👌📷🦆 perfect description 😁 and great capture🤗🌹🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆
Thank you, Mic! I truly got lucky with this delightful opportunity. I thankfully remembered to turn off my car to help with my pumping adrenaline and staying as calm/stable as possible! 😉 🙂
Oh my gosh! This was totally delightful Donna, especially as you watched them make their
escape one by one counting them off and viewing their jump! That was exciting!
Love this post!
Thank you, Eddie, so happy you enjoyed this! This is one of those blessed nature opportunities we dream about, one I will certainly not forget it. I floated on Cloud 9 the rest of the day! 🙂
I believe it!
What a joy to read this post. Thanks, Donna
So happy you enjoyed it, thank you so much!
So cute
Yes! Thank you, Sheree!
How wonderful you were able to watch and capture this wonderful scene!! Fabulous phots and beyond adorable!!
Thank you!! My goodness, my adrenaline was pumping crazy, not sure how I got through it with success, so happy whew!! I floated on Cloud 9 the rest of the day for sure! 🙂
This is masterpiece, Donna! So adorable!!
Thank you very much, Indira, so happy you enjoyed it!!
How fabulous and what a treat to catch that wonderful moment. Well done Donna!
Thank you, Mike, it made my day! I’d only seen in in video before, now I have my own memory moment!
At the right moment at the right place….. you succeded Donna.
Thank you, Rudy, it was certainly a perfect lucky opportunity, so happy I was there!
What a delight to see 😊. Very nice, Donna!
Thank you, Belinda! I was on Cloud 9 the rest of the day, had always wanted to ‘see’ this happen. 😊
What beautiful captures Donna of these cute little ones. Love the way they dive like possums. They look so much like our own baby wood ducks at that age.
Thank you, Ashley! It was truly a special delight, being there in the quiet and then to suddenly hear their chatter of excitement, AND then to see this! A blessed moment I will not forget!!
How beautiful, you’ve captured such an important moment on the lives of these ducklings… when they fledged, all at once!. Great job, Donna! Keep up the good work. 🙂 👍
Thank you, HJ, so happy you enjoyed these! It was truly a delight for me to get this lucky opportunity. I’m reliving my Cloud 9 now with the post share!! 😊
That was being in the right place at the right time in spades.
Truly a lucky moment for sure for me!!
Oh my goodness Oh my goodness! That is the cutest thing!!! 🥰🥰
Thank you, Lisa, so happy you enjoyed these! It was such a blessing to witness this, I’ll never forget it!! 😊
Oh how exciting!!! I saw video of ducklings fledging on an episode of “Nature” on PBS. How lucky you were to witness this in person! Fantastic pictures, Donna! The picture of #6 pondering is especially sweet. 😊
I, too, had only seen this happen in a nature video. It was so exciting to see it unfold as well as hear the excited chatter of the ducklings. Wish I could have recorded them, it was truly delightful. Little #6 didn’t have long to ponder, I imagine one or two got bumped out from the ones still trying to get out from behind. 😊
Oh my! What fun!
It was a true delight to watch while hearing their excited chatter!
What fortunate timing, Donna! Such a fun thing to witness. 🙂
Luck was truly on my side this day! I no longer cared about the other bird I was trying to photograph prior. 😉 Cloud 9 took over!
I’ve never seen this so envy you this opportunity which you made full use. Very nice and thanks for sharing with us.
What a fabulous gift to see this happen!! They’re adorable. I’m glad you were there with your camera to capture it and share it!