"Five little ducks went swimming one day, over the hill and far away.
Mama duck called, Quack, quack, quack, quack.
Four little ducks came swimming back."
In my story there were only four little ducks that decided to venture
over the hill and far away from their home one spring morning.
It started in the spring when the heavy rains had washed away several large sections of the freshly seeded fields. My boss and a few of us had spread straw on the slopes of one field to keep the seeds from drifting away during the next rain, we hoped.
A neighboring farmer who has four ducks allows them to wonder at will. For the past several years I would watch them as they waddle along the lane to the fields where they nibble on grass and such out there, then they would line up and waddle on home again sometime in the later morning. They would never leave their own fields, and it was rather neat to watch them walk to and from home in their little herd.
It was after the grass seeds were replanted in the fields and the straw was laid down in six or seven gully washing places that I believe those four little ducks decided to venture a little further from home. In the beginning I would try to beep, holler, and call to them to get on back home, but I gave up after a few days. I just didn't want them to get in trouble, ya know.
As the days progressed, those four little ducks would stray further and further from their home. They would return each evening, but then I would see them over the rise nibbling away at the growing alfalfa fields by day.
Some time in the late spring they had found their way across the fields and into the back dry cows' meadow. That is, the back meadow where the large old pond sets. As there is a fence around the pond, the ducks would just settle for eating in the pasture when the cows were in the barn feeding in the morning or sleeping closer to the barn. Sometimes I wouldn't see them for a while, then I would need to walk out into the meadow to bring in a cow or two and I would see those silly ducks still hanging around.
Finally in late November I saw a large white dot on the pond from a long distance away as I drove up the front farm lane during a work day. I thought, 'Those ducks found a way through that fence at last, or they finally grew out their wings and flew over it!' [I always just assumed they must have clipped wings because I would never see them flying anywhere. But I wouldn't be surprised if they grew them out after seven months away from home. Haha!]
Ever since that first cool morning when I saw them on the pond, I haven't seen them leave there since. I believe they've found a new home and they won't be leaving for a good long while. ;)
I couldn't remember why, but I grabbed my camera bag and tripod on my way out the door to work one morning last week. (I haven't been taking my camera to work as much since it's so cold in my car, and I don't feel like warming it up again when I get home.) When I finished work that morning I grabbed my camera and wondered on down to the old dry meadow. I tried to be quick yet quiet as I wondered around the barn and down toward the pond. When I got close enough that the ducks knew I was there they came out of their hiding place and swam to the opposite end of the pond. That suited me fine as I'd brought my tripod and quickly started snapping photos of them at a distance. By the time I left my fingers were so numb and my knees were cold and wet from kneeling on the wet ground in the wind. It was worth it.
After seeing the ducks at a distance for so many months it was amazing to look at them through my camera's lens at a closer range. They're really very pretty! I thought it was funny how they swam in formations. Squares, diamonds, diagonal lines, but always in a close-knit group. They seem like a happy little bunch of ducks for sure.
I hope you enjoyed my little story.
Have a wonderful day!
