Upon arriving home after a spring break trip I breathed a sigh of relief - I'm home. After falling into bed and a wonderful, fitful sleep I awoke to a light dusting of snow - of course - spring in the Midwest. As I left my front door to sleepily walk to get the paper I noticed a wood duck staring at me out from under a bush next to the house under my front window. "No Way!", I thought. While we were gone this little duck "adopted" our home. Clearly she was not moving from her nest. As I wandered down the drive way I kept wondering how long she had been there. Clearly she had, had the past week to make herself at home. And at home she now was. As the day wore on I kept checking on my "house guest". She was faithfully there on her nest huddling behind the bush as light snow fell consistently through out the day. Days turned to weeks. She continued to sit on her nest day and night faithfully guarding her eggs and protecting them from the weather. Periodically she would wander away, generally at night. Once off the nest it was clear eggs were present; but how many was not known. After a couple of weeks I gazed out at her to suddenly see six heads poking out
from under her body. She had finally given birth. Her brood must have contained at least 11 eggs. Within days she began leading her newly hatched ducklings to the pond. A proud mother who for a few short weeks faithfully stayed at home. In time, this mother and the father decided that home was not so bad. Once our pool was opened, the duck family returned to their home. This time, rather than nesting in the front yard below the window near the foundation of the house, they decided to take up residence in the pool. I'm glad to know that our backyard has become a sanctuary for God's creatures. To learn more about the mallard, click here. 
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