Every day I walk on the edge of a nature reserve near our neighborhood. For 3 years, now a pair of Mallard ducks have made their spring/summer residence in a large puddle near the sidewalk. Technically, this puddle is almost a small pond and I’m not going to ruin their home by pointing out that it only exists because of mud and rain.
A few weeks ago, the Mallard couple turned up again. It was a nice sign of spring returning and I was happy to see them. Each day for a week, they swam around, having a nice chat. But the second week, the female disappeared only to be replaced by 2 more males. And when I walked by this week, there were 4 males and no signs of females. In my mind, the couple got into an argument and the female stormed off. She’s probably tired of having to chase off the magpies while the male sits around ordering bread baskets and the latest feather maintenance products. The male’s friends heard about this and are now gathering around to make it a rockin’ bachelor pad (puddle) to cheer him up. “Don’t worry about her man, she was always rufflin’ your feathers! There’s other ducks in the lake!”
My husband says the females must be off laying eggs, but he just doesn’t understand human duck nature the way I do.
LOL