To Everyone at Hugz

I haven't transferred all my pics to photobucket yet...have thousands of them and it takes a long time to get them all moved over. I'm still working on burning them all to disks too so I can get them off my harddrive. I'll get there. :)

Or maybe when you preview you can just delete the extra urls. I still can't figure out why that happens

OMG this is the duck in your yard? I'm so jealous

that's the male LostOne...he was posing for me! He started waddling away and I said "hold on duck, I want to get a picture" and he stopped and stayed there long enough for me to get a few pics. The males have color (emerald green on their heads and a beautiful blue patch on their wings) and the females are brown (they blend in with their surroundings very well!).

I'll post more pics when I get them transferred to photobucket.

Nooo Jacki....don't wait...I wanna see em' now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please, please, please, please, please....do I sound like Chey and Emmy...please, please, please, please, please?????

Hey, Jacki, the picture of the mallard reminds me of the duck antics here -- we have a pond and wetland here so the mallard drakes get reel territorial and chase each other around somethin crazy right about nest time. To the point where I have been teaching at our table and got so distracted that we paused math to do biology. They were hilarious chasing each other -- one would either attack by waddling at break-beak speed (and they often endo'd riiight on the beak in their haste!) or they would swoop in all wings and feet, sending their rival tumbling or runnin~
I would need a telephoto lens to get a decent shot of the great blue herron couple that often visits our pond -- but we love to watch them moooooove ever soooooo sloooooowly with their strange legs bending backwards. They look like statues or fakes -- but then they spread their wings, fold that stick-neck neatly in half, tuck the feet under and gain air... and take your breath away!

My big dream here lies in building a chain of ponds with wetlands as biofilters between. I love ponds -- and even more love running water! Being near the rainforest (but in the lee of the mountains) we do get some real wet storms and the water was a real problem here when we bought this place. I want to show people that there is value in water, in wetlands and to see that a "problem" is really a resource if approached with an open mind. I'm hoping that I can get some help from our government, or at least tax breaks. It drives me nuts that, in this day and age, we treat storm water like it is trash, and worse we dump it riiight back in to rivers with ALL the garbage it picked up. (And we wonder why sea life and river life dies?). Some progressive projects have been done with urban storm water in creating wetlands. Designed right they work wonders, purifying water and creating enjoyable and viable wetlands/water features (streams, falls ponds, etc).
Sheesh -- didn't mean to write a book here... steppin' offa-da soap box

I want a duck

Love your soap box, John. Stay up there..and please...more books! Mom lives near a Cienega (wetland..natural spring) and there are a couple of white herons that come and visit, which is so strange since it's so far south. They are awesome to watch. I think there may have been blues there too..but my memory isn't what it used to be. I love your stories..and I love ducks. We used to have 2 goose/duck mixes. Dad called them gucks. He named them Quackers and Milk. They were fun.

The ducks nesting in my hedgerow are actually Roans John. They look almost identical to Mallards, and roans can't fly. I didn't know they weren't mallards till their owner told me! We have a creek running along the property. As it runs into the Chesepeake Bay there are all kinds of laws about what happens along this waterway. The conservation district people keep a close eye on construction, dumping, even run off from the cow pastures. We have deer, rabbits, groundhogs, fox, bear (a momma and cub), coyotes and even a wildcat in the neighborhood. There are deer and rabbits in our yard all the time...the deer are living along the creek not far from here - we can see where they live from the back yard.

We had a pair of blue heron nesting here two summers ago...they haven't been back since, don't know what happened to them. We also have geese, wild turkeys, a pair of falcons and plenty of turkey hawks in the neighborhood. Last year we had a robin build her nest on the railing on our front porch. We got to watch the babies from egg to being booted from the nest. It was an awesome experience for the girls. We took pics daily of them. We also had chipping sparrows nesting in the shrub next to the porch.

We love living out in the country...it has been amazing for the girls to experience all the wildlife first hand. When my other grands visit they just love watching for what animal is going to show up during their visit.

I agree with you on the whole water issue. The girls and I pick up trash along the road when we go for walks so it doesn't end up in the creek...my sister and her family do the same. It sickens me the amount of garbage people throw out of their cars when they drive on this road. I would love to have a pond, but am settling for the creek for the time being. It's close enough to watch all the wildlife that goes there and difficult enough to get to that I don't have to worry about the little ones getting into trouble (a steep climb down through lots of underbrush, lots of thorny growth). As the girls get older they will be able to get to it, but for now I don't have to worry.

What a blessing to have wildspaces and wildlife to share with kids, eh? I KNOW my youngest has a deep love for nature and ALL of my kids love natural beauty. For me, wild spaces are a cathedral, where all is ordered and in its place... but it is wild and free from "control" a place of connections; to everything, and to ourselves. It is a living testimony of incomparable magnitude to our creator! To have kids experience those feelings, even if they don't grasp it fully, is the best school!
We will soon be planning our spring tides outing. I'm sure Michelle will have me posting pics here by then... so I hope to share a bit o' that here. The tidepools here are incredible -- we usaully see way more than we can even begin to identify (we check out stuff from the library and research b/4 we go).
anyway, love hearing about life for others as well as tryin' to share snippits of the stuff that makes it all worth hangin' round... sooo talk to y'all soon
j

Ahh..my life is once again balanced after reading these 2 posts...thank you Jacki and John. My Dad didn't go to church. He used to say he felt closer to God after just going into nature and seeing His creation. I understood his feelings, because, when I see God's works...I can sometimes hardly catch my breath. I remember a trip to Oregon for my Uncle's funeral. On the way back, we decided to take the coast road. To get to it, we traveled through the beautiful mountains...covered in patchy fog...dark green trees with hit and miss myrtle trees showing gorgeous patches of purple. We came around a corner of the highway, and all of a sudden...there was the ocean...the mountains..the fog..and the myrtle all in one shot. I honestly couldn't breathe for a second or two. It was amazing. How awesome is God that He chose to give us such beauty to enjoy?

I love them..so cute!!!! They really quack me up!

My conversation with a duck this morning...

quack (thank you for changing the water in my pool and getting me food - I'm assuming that's what she meant)

you're very welcome, anything else you need this morning?

quack, uack, quack quack (you can get rid of that pesky chicken that keeps stealing my food and crapping by my pool!)

I've tried chasing her home, I've told your owner about her. It's up to him to get her back in the shed now. Sorry I can't do more for you on that one.

UAAACK, QUACK, quack quack quack (well than what the heck good are ya???)

then she just waddled away.

OMG Jacki that is too funny. Do you have names for them? Like Donald and Daffy?

Lost One, the girls name them Daisy, Edward, Sunflower, Candy, Connor and Colin. Not sure what their owner calls them. Emily and I watched them for about an hour tonight.

They're adorable Jacki. But how do you know which ones are male and which ones are female?

the roans (brown ducks)...the male has color on his head and is taller than the female. The white ducks (forget what they are called)...the male has a feather on his rump that curls up (honest...that's how you tell the difference in the white ducks!!). We don't know the sex of the two ceramic ducks under the cascading cherry tree though. :)

So let me see, you have 4 males and one female?

There are 3 males and 3 females Mike...the other female is the one that is nesting in our hedgerow...she doesn't go very far from her nest.

I should have looked at more than their tails. Does she have babies in the nest?

Ceramic ones....you don't know the sex of them... Oh...Jacki...you're too much! Next time you talk to your duckies...tell them I sent them my love... ooh hooo hooo...hee hee haw haw...stop it...you're killing me...eeeh, hee hee haw haw hoo

We don't know where her nest is Mike. She has it well hidden. When ducks lay eggs they won't hatch them until they feel they have enough in the nest. So, she may have some eggs in the nest but isn't ready to hatch them yet. We are hoping for some babies.

Just had to clarify about the ceramic ducks Michelle because they are in the picture and I wouldn't want them to feel left out. :)

I hope she has babies and you can get some pics of them.

Psssssst........the ceramic ducks went right over Mike's head