On Tuesday, I walked out to the end of the driveway to retrieve the garbage can – I knew the recycling hadn’t been picked up yet- and placed it by the garage door, slightly sheltered from the rain by the overhanging roof and gutters. As I rolled it into place, a female mallard flew away from the house, startling me.
I returned along the walkway to the front door and noticed a handful of eggs, partially exposed. Concerned that she might not returned, I did a quick Google on my phone and found out that a nesting mallard will leave a couple times a day to get food, so I hoped that was the case here. Cassandra did more research later in the day, discovering that mallards don’t start incubating their eggs until they’ve laid them all, and an average nest can have between 8 and 13 eggs. Wow! That reassured me when she wasn’t back on the nest later in the day; our thought is she’s not done laying the eggs yet.
Not, mind you, that I would necessarily notice her. She camouflages quite well, as you can see. Or not see, as the case may be. Knowing that she’s in this photo, I still had to crop it a lot to see her easily. Here’s hoping for a part two on this topic, though research says that’s almost a month of incubating away.