An utterly charming Valentine’s day tale from mills:
For Valentine’s Day, I went to the parking lot of my office building and photographed a new mother duck with her ducklings. The criticism of a human won’t disturb her, so I’ll note that I thought it was poor parenting to ask her offspring -so young they fell more than they walked- to follow her over such a high curb.
But they made it! The flung themselves up, gracelessly; they fell back two or three times before their extended legs propelled them forward, like vaulters whose poles were made of taffy. Those photos are below.
But these two were left behind; the second-to-last photo shows one of the successful jumpers chirping at them, which he did for almost a minute before turning around and racing to catch up with the rest.
Mother and children.
Vaulters.
Encouragement.
Stuck.
As our presence was likely preventing the mother from returning, we left shortly after this; the ducklings were really extraordinary to see, although one’s mind naturally turns towards anxious contemplation of what might lie in wait for them. Fear of the sort that involves futurity is something only humans experience, and it is an old moralist trope that fear is the source of all evil.
The ducks did seem cold, though. I’m sure their mother returned; I’m sure because I checked.
Ducks are my favourite.
