Mallard Family

This hen mallard with 9 ducklings appeared on Maxwell Lake over a week ago, which is pretty early for ducklings around here. Many have seen her since as she's quite tame and let's people approach fairly closely. On Saturday evening I got a chance to take some photos of her with brood as the light was fading. The ducklings are growing rapidly and are more than twice as big as they were when they first appeared.

I'm still seeing ring-necked ducks on the lake so I'm hopeful that we'll soon see a few broods from them as well. And bufflehead broods from the new nest boxes up Happy Creek are a virtual certainty. I'm pretty sure all 4 boxes are occupied.