Wissota Wonders: Waterfowl stop by the deck for dinner
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By MARK GUNDERMAN
mark.gunderman@lee.net
Friday, August 15, 2008 7:03 PM CDT
Spring and summer mornings we are often greeted with a family of ducks — usually a young mother an a flock of tiny little fuzzy ducklings gobbling up sunflower seeds and stuff under the bird feeder.
Judi takes good care of the animals in the back yard. Not only do the songbirds get plenty to eat, but so do ducks and squirrels, and a few too many chipmunks since the cat got too old to keep the population down. We will sometimes be seated in the living room and spy a family slowly waddling their way up the hill, with the mom keeping a watchful eye for trouble. If we get too close to a window, she starts the parade waddling down the hill as quickly as feet meant for swimming can take them.
The other day, we were sitting on the deck planning what to do with my next vacation day when we saw her and the little ones — nine in all — hanging around at the shore. The young hen was looking up at us wondering when we would leave so she could come up for supper with the kids.
Pretty soon, a family of geese swam up and took station at the shore, too, causing the mother duck to retreat off into the neighbor’s yard. But she continued to watch us sitting and conversing quietly on our deck, and started to feel safe, since we weren’t moving around.
She started up the hill with the little parade behind her, going up through the neighbor’s yard, then attacking the bird feeder area with a flanking maneuver. With mom keeping a close watch on us, the little ducklings pecked away at their supper.
Then the gander at the bottom of the hill stuck his neck high up and took a gander at the duck who snuck up on the food. He quickly rallied his family and gander and goose ran up the hill, along with about half a dozen goslings already grown larger than the mallard hen who was guarding her young.
Once again, the ducks gave way, especially after one of the parents showed the hen his wingspread. Still, everyone got enough to eat and peace prevailed, with Judi and I taking delight in watching it all a few feet from us.
I won the next vacation day planning discussion and launched at dawn once again, with a fog hanging over the warm water in the cool August morning air. As I rounded the point of the peninsula, where Marv Roshell used to live, I spotted the silhouettes of a couple of dozen ducks or more interspersed between the shore and Mermaid Island.
They would have quacked up a storm and flown out of the way had I kept motoring through on the way to my spot, but I powered down, and angled through the gaps between them.
I was too polite to scatter them. They are, after all, my neighbors. We just had them over for dinner the day before.
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