The instinct to protect your young is strong. Today I enjoyed witnessing that play out with a mother duck and her ducklings. I was sitting eating outside with some friends. All of a sudden loud quacking began. There was a little water area behind some bushes. We couldn’t see the duck but she sure made her presence known. Really loud quacking. We finally saw her and it seemed she was upset with the large Koi swimming in the water. I was surprised because I couldn’t imagine why the Koi were bothering her. They were good sized a beautiful orange one and a white one. They didn’t seem to be bothered by the duck. That duck sure could quack loud.
We continued on eating and enjoying conversation. Then the truth of the quacking was revealed …ducklings. They were following their mother under our table and across the sidewalk. Oh my goodness they were so small and cute. So much fun to see. Now it was easy to understand what all the loud quacking was about. The mother duck was protecting her young. The Koi must have swam near her babies and she didn’t like that. Soon all we saw was mom and her ducklings. The Koi were gone. Such a beautiful sight to see a mother protect her babies.
