West Nest Jump Day

At about 10:20 CDT on Thursday June 5th the hooded merganser called her ducklings to follow her out into the world. There were 8 merganser and 6 wood duck ducklings.

One of the ducklings was very late getting out of the nest box, but finally it jumped out and found its way down to the creek many minutes after the family had left the area. It was joined by another little wood duck that got separated from the group somehow. They peeped loudly and tried to swim upstream but the current was strong and they weren’t sure where to go.

The mother duck led her family back and forth upstream for a while, then eventually went downstream past the place where the two were stranded. We saw one of the ducklings join in. Maybe the other one did too.

After a last look back, …

… the family went downstream. There are some wide quiet places and eventually a lake in that direction. We almost never see them again. (22 second video)