A couple of weeks ago while I was near the northeast corner of Turtle Pond in Central Park, I came upon a Mallard with her ducklings. These birds can be seen in the photographs atop this entry.
The ducklings captured my heart with their actions and I'm sure you'll see why they did upon looking at the next set of pictures.
Seeing these ducklings engaging in life, prompted me to do some research to learn more about these sweet-looking creatures.
Here's what J. Brian Davis, Ph.D. in an article (he titles "Young waterfowl face many challenges but are well-adapted") has to say:
"The sight of a brood of day-old ducklings in spring is guaranteed to raise a smile on anyone's face. The downy little puffballs seem the epitome of innocence, and their daily routine appears endearingly simple: scamper after a few insects and, above all, keep up with the rest of the brood. But the lives of ducklings and goslings are not as easy and carefree as a casual observer might think. Young waterfowl face many obstacles early in life. The timing of hatch, local abundance and quality of wetlands, weather, predation and other factors impact the survival of ducklings and goslings."
And for this 139th segment of my Tuesday's Truths series, I encourage you, dear reader, to read Davis's full piece, which you may do by clicking here.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with more pictures of the ducklings I encountered at the northeast end of Turtle Pond.
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