1-27-2012-those darn ducks

            don't know if you have ever raised ducks, but there really isn't much you can do with them. they seem to be on natures autopilot , or at least these 6 are. i have 2 mallards of natural look, males, and 2 female drakes i believe they are called, and 2 domestic hybrid pita's(pain in the asses) . they are source of amusement and wonder of  how they can survive. they just do.\

            it has rained for 2 days here on the farm and everything is soaked  to say the least . and i really wasn't in no big hurry to go feed the ducks. i let my responsibilities go and they ran off my back like water on a ducks feathers as they say. and the irony is that it just about got me into trouble. nothing major but would have required rebuilding the top dike of our two tiered farm pond. you are looking at the ducks on the lower pond after i released the water. yes i said released the water. 

         i thought these ducks were not smart but for some reason the pond has had that same pipe plugged 3 times with debris . before the ducks came i never had one problem with it. there is a connections as i believe they are shoving stuff down the 4 inch pipe that is more than sufficiently sized for the pond. again i never had a problem with pond before they showed up. i could just imagine them running around pond gathering up flotsam and jetsam and shoving it down the pipe. whatever the water builds up to the point it runs over the dike and could erode the front of the small dam. the second pond would contain it and slow it down so no worry.

         well as i was getting ready to feed them and they cruised around overflowing upper pond amazed at how much bigger and nicer the newly formed lake was i looked at them and asked them . 

        "who did this? " 

        and of course i get same response and rampant quacking seemingly accusing one another, and i think i made out something about it could have been the muskrat that also shares a lair in the pond. a lot of wing pointing  and waddling away as i was speaking. 

        i grabbed a pitchfork and went to the lower end of the pond and started fishing out sticks , duck food, a little of this and a lot of that followed by a huge rush of water cascading down the rocks and ducks waddling for all their worth to avoid the deluge. in a way i kind felt bad for them as i think they kinda liked their misguided achievement. the pond was functioning again . as i walked away i could hear quacks of discontent. 

        the truck cap was an attempt to give them shelter. they instead choose to spend the winter in the open in the upper spring where the water temperature rarely drops below 50 degrees. and i bring them food and when it is cold they huddle together as they feel safe in their cove.they have never been caught in that truck cap once since it was placed there. i will remove it this spring when weather is better. so much for my misguided attempt to help an animal out. seem they know best what works for them. in fact i have seen other birds , geese doing the same thing , foraging food in winter conditions with out much ill effect around here . and we think we have it tough. 

         the second pic is the local creek that at this time had not peaked its flooded conditions. a couple of days of rain on top of a winter thaw, leaves little rain being absorbed and mostly ending in runoff and flooding creeks. when this creek floods it can still cause folks to head to higher ground. as development increases this will happen more often. most new developments have to prepare storm water runoff plans to slow the amount of ground water to an amount that would naturally occur had this been open ground. but at same time there are a lot of existing areas that were grandfathered in and should have some kind of runoff control and don't. 

           the carving is from norman rockwells sons collection out of stockbridge mass.. click on image to enlarge.