The return of the ducks
I guess the ducks enjoyed their afternoon tea at our pond yesterday, because promptly at five today, they returned. One good thing about their visits is that they seem to have a taste for the string algae. It has bloomed with all the heat we’ve had the last three days and I was ready to go buy an algaecide, which I do hate to use. However, since the pond is in full sun it does become necessary from time to time. The female in particular seems to relish the flavor. Yesterday she climbed to the top of the waterfall and cleaned most of it out of there. If they keep to this daily schedule, I think we can accommodate them without any problems from the pups.
Neither one of the dogs has spotted the ducks yet. Moreover, since I know they are there I take the pups out into the yard on leashes and direct them to the front of the yard. There’s no sense in tempting fate.
I can picture Patty having an encounter with those big birds. She’s used to robins, cardinals, finches, and mourning doves, and ignores them, but ducks? She’s never met one. She’d likely take a flying leap into the pond after them. Gavin would probably bark at them while backing up to get closer to me, just in case.
Posted on April 29, 2009, in Dog related, My blog, my garden and tagged Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Doggonedmysteries 
I was interested to read about your duck visitors. When we lived in the country we had a neighbour who did a lot of shooting, this led to an influx of feathered vistors who came to us for sanctuary! Some of the pheasants settled permanently and they queued at the back door to be fed every morning. They existed quite peacefully with Dram (our golden retriever)simply because if they stood still he didn’t see them! He was far too interested in walking around with his nose on the ground and following more interesting smells.
The ducks were more transient and only came when the shooting started, although the mum duck left her ducklings on our pond when they were very young!
Many years ago we had pheasants living in the cemetery next door to us. We haven’t seen any in recent years and find that sad.
However, for being in the center of a big city that cemetery has had its share of wild creatures. We’ve had opossums, raccoons, lots of squirrels, a red tail hawk pair who still nest there every year, skunks, a fox, and even a deer one year.
I don’t need to live out in the country to see a variety of wild critters–although I’d much prefer to live out of town.
Doesn’t that just quack you up?
Yeah, and so do you!
I have both a birdfeeder and a hummingbird feeder so I look forward to the spring when my birds come back to the yard. They have gotten smart and stay on the other side of the fence on the feeder away from Paddy. But this year a couple of them are pretty sassy and started dive bombing her the other day. It was actually pretty funny to see her running through the yard from a sparrow lol.
Many of my neighbors have bird feeders that they keep filled year round. I only feed in the winter because my pond is the big draw for all the birds during the summer.
The only thing my hummingbird feeder attracted was big black tree ants so I don’t put one up now. Hummingbirds sometimes come here for the flowers.