More swamp fun.....

The wetland at this time of year is a very busy place. All of the young ducks, geese turtles, blackbirds, etc. are demanding time from their mothers. Male ducks are molting now and they look pretty fugly without their feathers. But the most interesting and fun thing for me is watching the young ones grow week by week. Not so long ago the ducklings were just little puffballs and now many of them look like miniature carbon copies of their Moms!! Because they weren’t all born at the same time you can still see families with little baby chicks swimming in the same area as the older chicks. The GBH chicks are now leaving the nests and beginning to fish for themselves (Mom and Dad couldn’t be happier!).

These chicks still have down on them….

While these look like “Mini-Moms”…..

Motorboating…..

Young Hooded Merganser

So if you want to see all of the little ones doing little one things, you better plan a trip soon. Because childhood doesn’t last long in the wild…..