On fowl, friendly and fierce.

I have finally gotten around to taking pictures of my ducklings to post here. And while I was at it, I took some pictures of the chick that one of my other ducks hatched. Yes, a chick -- she appropriated a nest that already had some eggs in it, and some of them were chicken eggs. This put me in the unenviable position of having to chicknap her new baby, to protect it from its mother. I swear, it is no coincidence that "drake" can refer either to a male duck or to a dragon. If dragons were anything like vengeful mother ducks, they must have been fearsome indeed. Quite apart from the fact that duck bites hurt, the psychological aspect is somewhat unsettling. When feeling threatened, mama ducks react very much like cobras, hissing, puffing themselves up to look bigger, and generally notching up the terror factor from "cute duck floating on pond" to "totally evil looking creature intent on ripping bodily chunks off of anything that gets too close". It's quite dramatic.

Anyway, enough talk, more pictures...

Mama with three duck-lets in tow.

New chick. Currently unnamed.

Note the strong owl resemblance.