duck, Duck, DUCK

Mike has long held the belief and has stated quite openly that bald eagles are known to snack on ducks when the mood hits them. He had never said that when the eagles are around patrolling the river for salmon, or when they are spotting from high atop the firs that line the river. He only mentioned it when queried about why there is never seen a single duck hanging out in the swamp or along the waters edge of the river, there is always multiples and sometimes whole gaggles but never one by itself.

He said the reason is the eagles, for if an eagle would spot a lone duck, dinner was soon to follow. I believe he started the statement with “they say,…” I am always suspicious when he starts his sentences that way and want to know just who the “they” is so I can determine viability of the statement but “they” seem to be unavailable for comment, or making their own statements or speaking for themselves.

Nothing has ever happened around here to dispel, refute, or confirm the aforementioned notion. It may have because I have never spotted a lone duck in all the years here on the farm. Now that I have thoroughly discounted Mike’s statement, I’ll have to tell you what happened the other day.

It was one of those squally type days, one minute it would be bright sunlight then a wind would kick up and rain, sleet or hail would pummel down for a short burst. Rainbows would pop up for a few seconds then disappear as quickly as they had showed themselves. I was out in the barn bundling firewood. The open end of the barn lets me watch the clouds scuttle by, watch the showers and revel in the rainbows. I can also see out across the swamp where we have a bunch of ducks that like to winter over with the grass and weeds growing in abundance.

I hadn’t been paying much attention to the swamp at all but heard a quacking commotion start up. It was very unusual to hear much of anything from the ducks so when the quacking started, I looked that direction. At first I didn’t see any ducks, but I did see a bald eagle dive bombing toward the swamp. As he flew straight down, the wild flapping and quacking got louder and louder and the ducks huddled in closer with each swoop from the eagle.

The eagle took long flights back out over the field before zeroing in on the swamp time after time. With each dive, the ducks ducked and quacked, flapped and slapped the water. All I could do was remark “Goodness!” with each near attack. Finally the eagle tired of the game and went off in search of some other fun or maybe a single duck off by himself.

This just proves Mike’s point, that “they” may be right after all.

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I am so pleased to announce that MaryJane Nordgren has made her new book available to the public! Click here for your copy of Nandria’s War.