by Annette Bromley

Created on: October 29, 2008   Last Updated: August 14, 2009

The Ducks On The River

A True Story about the Adventures of a Family of Mallard Ducks and a Couple of Friends Who Made Their Home on the Black River in Vermont

The Black River and its awesome Comtu Falls is an ongoing attraction for tourist and residents alike but never so great an attraction than since the ducks arrived, the ducks that stay all winter. It is a great place to hike along with its abundance of rock formations, pools, falls and the ever present wildlife, both flora and fauna, the loon, the hawk, muskrat, mink, the weasel, otter and beaver, chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons and an occasional red fox with now and then a moose or white tail deer, frogs, toads, turtles and salamanders, the kingfisher, rock doves, sparrows, chickadees, finch, swallows and flycatchers, the red-winged blackbird, blue jays and thrush and the great blue heron and the owl, trout, bass, sunfish, perch, and salmon during the salmon run each spring; and there are the ducks, those wonderful and comical ducks.

This male Mallard is just one of several ducks that I know of that live on the Black River near my home in Vermont. The Mallard is one of the most common ducks in the world, found in North America, Asia and in Europe. In summer mallards live along the rivers and in marshes along the edges of both large and small bodies of water, lakes, ponds and build their nest in the tall marsh grasses or under fallen logs near the edge of the water. I've lived here most of my life and we've always had ducks around but not usually in this large a number in one place. It is here that the mallards build their homes and raise their young.

The female builds the nest and lines it with down plucked from her breast. It is a nice cozy, soft place to lay her ten or so eggs to hatch. The eggs are usually pale green to pale cream colored and are larger than a hen's egg but smaller than a turkey egg. For the past ten years I have been watching Mother Mallard set on her eggs and hatch them not much more than fifty feet from my office window. It has been a fascinating experience over the past few years.

The first year we had eleven babies, little mallard ducklings that grew up on the river just a few feet from where I live. The numbers have varied through the years from only one or two that survived to this year's flock of thirteen baby mallards that were hatched and nine that survived to live on our river. It was a very good year for the ducks.

The ducks have a lot to contend with, humans for

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