Mallards On A Mission

When a mother mallard and her twelve fuzzy babies showed up in our driveway in the city, I was curious: where did they come from and where were they going to?

I grabbed my camera and followed along at a safe distance, figuring I'd help protect them from any neighbourhood dangers they might face – dogs, cats, cars.

I never once thought about what might happen if they encountered fences – but as they did, I kept following them through peoples' backyards with my camera to my eye, thinking 'sooner or later someone will come out and help', and that's exactly what happened.

The couple you'll meet in the video, spied me through their window and came out to see what I was up to. When they saw the situation, they were happy to come and help, by stopping traffic on the busy street the ducks had to cross, and I was able to keep filming.

Once the Mama and her darling dozen were safely across the street and far enough down the road, at 5:16 you can see that she then allows them to stop and take a brief rest. I kept the camera rolling and decided to leave this in, even though it's a bit shaky and out of focus, because it represents exactly the amount of rest these little guys had on the entire journey!

The little ones would likely have been two to three days old here, which makes it rather impressive when you think of how far and how quickly they went! (see the map in the ending) Had they been able to fly, their route would have been much shorter and more direct, and the mother's task would've been so much easier.

I still have no idea where they came from, but I did find out where they were going to–and what a fascinating journey it was! The mother obviously didn't know she would encounter all these fences, yet when she did, even though SHE could fly over fences, she knew that her babies could not, and that if she flew, there'd be no scent for the babies to follow.

She lead them, and what was most fascinating for me, was to see her follow her instincts so purposefully that no matter what, she kept persevering. Even if she couldn't SEE fences in advance–having to turn around and loop back–she could trust her nose and her instincts to take them all in the right direction – which, in this case, was to water.

Thanks for watching! #withme #Wetlands #Mallards

P.S. I was asked in as a Visiting Artist to a local public school to show this video to one group of kids - and by the end of the first showing, I'd been approached by 3 more teachers wanting to show it to their classes. Five different groups watched it, and what a joy to hear their questions and comments after each showing! My fave was from a five-year-old girl, who said "how did you know what they were saying to each other?"

Видео Mallards On A Mission канала JP Rayne