And Then There Were 5

I am not looking forward to picking my kids up from school today.

I took the kids last night for a nature walk on the Parkway next to my house.

I took V and then he was picked up by B who drove by to drop off G who had just come back from  a friend's house and wanted to join us in our search for ducklings.

Thankfully B showed up as V desperately needed to pee and we were thinking of scouting for an outside spot by that time.

With V, I spotted several green frogs and a pair of cedar waxwings.

With G, we spotted the frogs I saw before, 2 muskrats, a lone male duck and a fucking squirrel.

Don't you hate when you hear a rustle in the trees or bushes, you get all excited as to what it may be making those noises,

and there's the fucking squirrel with a look in it's beady eyes that says, "What?"

The best of all, we saw a mother ducks and her terribly, horribly and unbearably adorable babies

Here is a little video we took.

Last night, 6 ducklings were with their mother. 

This morning, I checked on them after walking the kids to school and there were 5. 

I looked around for #6, but there was no sign. 

I know how nature is. I know why ducks and other animals have so many babies, but it still made me sad.

I wished for a moment that places like the Parkway had benevolent spirits or creatures that looked out for little ducklings. 

But no, they are stuck trying to survive with a small blunt nosed mother to protect them and good camouflage. 

And a bit of luck I suppose. 

Both G and V are well versed in the ugly side of nature and death. They have had family members and pets die, they know in detail how animals are killed and processed before they hit the table. 

G wants to be a falconer someday..

But a missing little duckling is certainly not going to go over well. 

I hope the little guy just got lost.