An old hen seems to learn a new trick…

The skies have been cloudy and dark all morning, but the air is calm and not too cool, so it was not the worst weather for a visit to Estabrook Park.

At the pond, I saw three wood duck hens, but only one had ducklings, and here they are setting off to graze some more even before Mom is done with her break.

The mallard hen and her duckling were also grazing on my first visit.

A belted kingfisher was there, but it foiled all my attempts to get close enough for a picture with my current equipment, so I headed to the river. There was plenty to see at the river, but nothing I could capture in this low light, so I returned to the pond and took a seat on the bench to soak in all the action. The green heron was croaking again, and then there were two flying around, which was great to see.

The most interesting sight for me, however, was watching how the mallard hen dealt with some pesky drakes. When nipping at them wasn’t doing the job, she flew up onto the lawn right in front of me, called for her duckling, and eventually flew back to nudge it along. They then paddled over to the lawn together, hopped right up, and the duckling quickly settled down for a nap. The drakes kept their distance out on the water.

In a minute, Mom joined in the napping, and for all the world, it appears that she is using people as a drake deterrent. Fascinating, and no, I don’t have any idea what her age might be, but I think the title works better with “old” in it.

Finally, the one other bird that let me get close enough for a picture this morning was this grey catbird who had a song to sing.