This isn't much of a picture. I would have liked to take a picture last week of all those lovely eggs sitting so prettily in the nest I accidentally uncovered when I was cleaning up the debris under the spreading juniper in our back garden. But Mama Mallard didn't much like me poking around, so I quickly covered it all back up and hoped for the best.
I saw Mama sitting on the eggs yesterday but today when I went out to check the excitement was all over. Only empty shells were left.
Maybe she'll be back. Sometimes mallard females lay more than one clutch of eggs in a season and often they will come back to the same place year after year.
The nest was very soft and the eggs were covered with a mix of leaves and duck down. I counted 11 eggs last week but there may have been one or two out of sight. I hope all the ducklings made it safely to a suitable pond. There are lots to choose from around here, but the geese are often very vocal and prickly about who they are sharing with.
Since we're in the garden, let's talk for a moment about hostas. Above is Hobo Slug. He travels around and sets up house near hostas. Last year I read that watering emergent hostas, before the leaves start to unfurl, with a 10% solution of ammonia in water would reduce the population of snails and slugs by killing their eggs. 1 part ammonia to 9 parts water. It worked - we had no observable slug damage in the garden last year, so I'll try it again this year. That's the tip of the day!
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