Here's Why This Mama Merganser Has More Than 50 Ducklings

[csziggy]

I can't post the picture here - but it is worth going to the Audubon page to see it!

Here's Why This Mama Merganser Has More Than 50 Ducklings
By Jillian Mock
July 13, 2018

Update July 17: According to the photographer of the first image, the mother merganser has since been spotted with another two dozen ducklings, bringing her total up to 76 .

Choppy waves bounced Brent Cizek’s small plastic boat as he headed for the shore of Lake Bemidji in Minnesota, hoping to beat a fast approaching summer storm. An amateur wildlife photographer, Cizek had decided to brave the late-afternoon winds to scope out the lakeshore for future shoots. He’d only brought one lens, thinking he might get a shot of a mallard he’d seen the day before, but wasn’t expecting to photograph anything special.

Then, as he motored toward the boat slip, Cizek saw something remarkable: a female Common Merganser surrounded by more than 50 little ducklings. While Cizek watched, the little mergansers formed a long, orderly line behind their mom and began swimming away. The scene was too good to pass up.

“I probably shot 50 pictures, and I was just praying that one was going to turn out sharp because the waves were so strong it was nearly impossible to even keep them in the frame,” Cizek says. To further complicate things, he had to alternate between maneuvering his little trolling motor and quickly snapping pictures. “Luckily enough, just one picture turned out.”

https://www.audubon.org/news/heres-why-mama-merganser-has-more-50-ducklings

[PearliePoo2]

1. I built nesting boxes on my pond for ducks.

It’s common for Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers to lay eggs in all the boxes and hatch out and care for their babies from both species. I have never seen more than 14 ducklings however! I love them so much!

[Duppers]

2. Awww. Amazing. nt