They are back!

This morning I stopped by the City Park and they were back! The merganser family is back! Merganser mama and her 10 ducklings (last year there were 8)...

 

The ducklings are a bit older than when I saw them first last year, but still love to ride on the mommy's back ;) Aren't they adorable? (By the way, here is the link to the first story of last year's family - It's all about family... and some feathery drama!).

A few seconds later, the whole family moved from the center of the pond to the shallow waters, and the ducklings began to play and dive... 

And the mother stayed nearby on high alert and watched over her kids. While the ducklings were fishing, she monitored the surroundings and ensured the safety of her family...

 

To my surprise, the ducklings turned out to be good hunters. They caught a lot of fish for breakfast! They are young, but definitely not helpless ;)

A few more minutes and they were all back in the open water. They move fast!

The mother stayed nearby, but now she allowed herself a little more freedom and searched for delicious food while her offspring wandered around...

She dived just once and surfaced with a huge crawfish in her beak! That was truly an amazing moment and within seconds her breakfast found its way to her stomach ;)

They made a couple of circles, caught some more fish... and returned to the far shore to rest... And some of the fastest (or laziest, or smartest) ducklings hitched the ride on the mom's back ;)

At this point I turned around and walked toward the large lake where I found a couple of pelicans enjoying the morning sun.

While I was watching them, they decided to go for a swim. A quick jump into the water and they glided slowly and gracefully toward the center of the lake.

 

My next stop was across the cormorant island where I found some of these big black birds...

Cormorants are a different story, and I guess I will go for them next time...

I think I will continue to watch the merganser family and will report back on their life. This was a lot of fun to do last year. Check out some more pictures from the last year to see how the mergansers have changed over time - A few birds I found in the City Park.

The pictures were taken on June 02, 2024.