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. 🙂
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