Simple joys

Tuesday brought a pleasant surprise. Just few days, after we discovered one of the neighborhood ducks had laid 14 eggs and was incubating them at a patch of empty land. 11 eggs had hatched into cute little yellow ducklings!!

Weeks before on our usual evening walks, we noticed this one duck who would be hiding among the bushes on this empty patch of land. As some of the other ducks at the lakeside park are quite the bully, we assumed she was trying to escape from them. My parents are part of a community who feeds the ducks at the park on a rotational basis. Last weekend, they spotted this duck again, hidden behind vegetation.That's how we discovered she was incubating her 14 eggs.

And so begins our daily check-ins (bordering obsession) with our little feathered friends. To protect them from the many dangers of our housing estate (monitor lizards, snakes, cats and more), we put up a fence around the nest to protect the ducklings. They should be fully grown in 30 days and generally will leave their mother within 50 to 60 days. Also added on signage for the community to note what can and cannot be fed to ducks. Number one: do not feed bread to ducks, it is bad for them and significantly reduces their lifespan! Constructed a makeshift mini pool out of leftover carton boxes for them to (hopefully) swim and bathe in.

The duck population at the lakeside park has reduced recently due to the presence of monitor lizards which prey on them. I'm really hoping these ducklings can grow up strong and healthy so we could have more ducks at the park for everyone to enjoy (sight see ya, not eat). Reveling in these simple joys currently while the country battles the pandemic. 

Apparently, not selling alcohol will help reduce daily cases.