Debra took some photos of a mallard pair who frequented the garden space by our patio wall. We saw them later along the river.

We love birds and all the animal life around us here by the river. Living on the edge of enormous construction and humming commerce, we still have wildlife following ancient ways, struggling gracefully, surviving—mating.

This is our second springtime here. Ducklings and goslings provide wonder and comedy. Right out of their eggshells, they waddle and march and swim—following parental guidance. Precocial, a word I learned recently, applies to ducks and geese, not to robins.[1]

I managed a photo of a goose in flight. It looks like a pretty good shot—up close—coursing by at speed!

Well, it was a pair, really, and I only caught the one in frame.


[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/precocial