Water Garden Visitors: The Mallards are Back

Katie (L) and Toughie (R) monitoring the ducks.

Earlier this month I awoke to raucous barking.  Steve had gotten up earlier than me and let the dogs out and now they were clearly unhappy.  I did a double take when I saw the reason why:  a male and female mallard were swimming in the water garden!

Last spring, they swam in our swimming pool, which kept the dogs running laps around it as they followed them from one end to the other.  The swimming pool is still covered, however, so they chose the next best thing.

Katie and Toughie watched the ducks intently, barking when they swam too close to the fish.  They did not understand that the ducks pose no threat to the fish.

Welcome back, ducks!  But I hope they don't spend a lot of time on our property.  Unfortunately, ducks defecating in the water have been known to be a source of high concentrations of e.coli that has shut down swimming areas in local ponds.  We don't want any bacterial issues in our pond or pool.

The ducks swim contentedly, ignoring the dogs.

I got too close with the camera and they took off.... 

... gracefully flying away.

We don't know for certain that these are the same ducks that visited last year but they are not at all shy around the dogs, barking or not.  They've been back twice to briefly swim laps in the pond.  Mostly we see them flying over the meadow and we can hear them honking.  We think they built their nest and reared their brood in the meadow last year, and suspect they are doing the same this spring as well.