Free Range Photography

In 50 years of living beside the South Fork of the Eel it is always with eager anticipation that I begin to look for duck families on the water in the late spring, early summer. We see Common Mergansers more than any other species near where I live, and I never really expect to see ducklings from anything else, even though Mallards are very common all winter and spring, and Wood Ducks make an uncommon appearance every now and then. It is a joy to see the little fluff bundles soon after hatching, and it’s fun to watch them grow up, even though it’s often a sad development that the number of young decreases as time passes as some inevitably become someone else’s meal if a mink or an otter or even a Cooper’s Hawk or Peregrine Falcon take some, most likely to feed their own young.

Over the past couple years I have seen only a couple families, and have not been able to enjoy watching them grow as glimpses have been few and far between. However, 2024 has bucked that trend and truly seems to be the Year of the Duckling so far. For the first time ever, I have seen a Mallard hen with her small brood, at least three different batches of Common Merganser youngsters, and the most coveted sighting of all, not one but two families of Wood Ducks. In all my years here I have only ever seen one Wood Duck family many years ago, but I have been getting my hopes up as pairs of the exquisite species have been a fairly regular visitor to my stretch of the South Fork these past few months.

I hope I keep seeing them and can watch them grow, passing from the downy stage to the sassy adolescent stage, awkward with real feathers replacing the fluff, and then finally to the nearly full-grown but still flightless birds that can stir up the whole river as they paddle hard and fast through the riffles, flapping their not quite ready wings.