Participant Photo: Male Mallard Keeping Watch

Photo by Jennifer Desbiens. I was quite surprised one April morning to find a Mallard duck on my front lawn. It had been raining quite a bit but we had never had ducks around our neighborhood (the closest pond is a block away). So I grabbed my camera and began watching him. I noticed he was marching back and forth in front of the large Oak tree and then I noticed Mrs. Mallard (harder to see because she is all brown / tan) perched on top of the flat portion of where we had cut off one of the large branches of the Oak. I could only assume he was keeping watch over her and maybe their ducklings?? I had read that ducks sometimes have their babies in trees and the ducklings then jump out of the trees. I kept an eye on them throughout the day and eventually Mrs. Mallard jumped out of the tree. I didn’t see the ducklings jump but eventually I saw the ducklings and the whole family leave the yard. I made sure to keep our dog inside our fenced backyard the entire day.