of ducks and fish and life...

the duck dynamics on the pond have changed, and it is interesting. once again, i am struck by how much this situation reflects on real life around me.

first, the ducks are a little more domesticated. they are now sleeping in the yard by the shed and come out when i call them. i have been feeding them bread and the deer corn. i cannot tell who is eating up all of this corn, but i am thinking the deer are making midnight runs. the ducks are chowing down, but won't get any closer to me than about 5 or 6 feet. that's fine. they aren't meant to be pets.

the ducks usually travel in a herd and they fly and wander around the neighborhood. sometimes big austin is not with them. recently i came home and big austin was standing in the backyard quacking miserably, as the other 3 were gone. it was sort of sad! he didn't want any food, only the others. in the morning they were all 4 sunning on the berm. all quackers happy...:)

socially, a few things have changed as well. big austin and mike swim together, and big austin has taking to chasing chris duck, who is still hanging with girl, who doesn't seem interested in any of them. she does her own thing, the others follow her. the boy ducks are fighting more. big austin really goes after chris duck, which is pretty funny. they got into it saturday in the backyard, and when they finished squawking and pecking, they all just sort of relaxed and stood around and groomed themselves! i guess this is more or less how middleschoolers do things...the girl is the center, the boys argue and fight and preen in front of them, then they go and do what they want.

sometimes the ducks are off visiting other places when i come out in the afternoon, so i still go down on the berm and throw bread to the fish. that is interesting, as there are probably 20 or more brim that will come almost up to the shore to feed. they will jump out of the water, and i think they can see me on the shore, for when i move, they scurry away. they return when i stop walking and start throwing the bread! i find this fun, as i have never really seen fish up close like that before, and i find it sort of comforting.

yesterday i worked on the fountain/pond i built in the front yard. i needed to clean it out, replace the plastic tubing on the fountain and generally clean up. i cut all the ornamental grasses back and then refilled the pond. the ducks came wandering up, and before i could get the pond filled, mike was in the pond, ass up! this was a hoot! john, the little 2 year-old next door, and i fed them birdseed out of my feeders and they quacked and kept coming back and forth until dusk. they seemed to take turns diving into the little pond, although god knows what they thought they would find in there! i had dipped all of the muck out, and put my horsetails and bonsai grasses back in and turned up the speed on the water. it is now louder, and certainly more entertaining with mallards swimming in it. imagine a bathtub with ducks...