Looking for Ducklings

Small Pond in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. (MAP)

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and since it's the right time of year we decided that we would go see if we could find some ducklings.

I remembered finding ducklings and goslings in this nearby pond last year so I thought it would be a good place to try.

Close-up of far end of pond.

When we first arrived we saw three mallards nearby and several baby ducks off in the distance.

While we were sitting there watching (and Sami was sending out duck ESP messages) a wood duck flew in.

It was then that I noticed the wood duck house there to the left of the picture.

Baby Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos

The ducklings were incredibly fast and zipped all around the pond. They were so fast it was hard to keep them in the frame to take a picture.

Male Wood Duck - Aix sponsa

These are probably the most colorful ducks we have here. They're also quite interesting because they're the only ducks that hang out up in the trees.

Female Mallard and Duckling.

We thought the female duck and ducklings might be wood ducks too. The ducklings were following the wood duck around. When I got home I looked up these birds in the book and realized that these are just regular mallards.

Nutria - Myocastor coypus

Lots of people mistake these animals for muskrats but unfortunately they are not. Nutrias are a non-native species introduced from South America. They do quite a lot of damage in some areas by eating sensitive wetland plants. They are cute though.

Here's the nutria scratching his head, and getting back in the water.

Black-Capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapilla

The wood duck swam over to a corner of the pond where we couldn't see him anymore. We tried to follow, but didn't find him. We decided to go over to Commonwealth Lake to see if there were any ducklings there.

American Wigeon (m) - Anas americana

Unfortunately we didn't see any ducklings at Commonwealth lake. Maybe it's still too early, or maybe the ducks don't lay eggs here because there are so many people around. I don't know.

We saw lots of people fishing for trout there this afternoon and lots of wigeons. Aside from mallards and domestic ducks, wigeons are the most common type of duck at Commonwealth Park.

Goldfinch

Not sure exactly which one this is - he was way up in the tree. I didn't even see him 'til Sami pointed him out to me.

Domesticated Swan Goose - Anser cygnoides

These geese are totally fearless and came right up to us looking for food. Unfortunately a lot of people feed the birds in this park even though it is not allowed.

Another Domesticated Swan Goose - Anser cygnoides