She emerged from under the blue spruce, circled the yard briefly, give a little run, flapped her wings and flew toward the farmer’s field.  That’s strange, I thought, a female mallard was under our tree.    My innate curiosity took over and I went to investigate.  Prone on the ground I was able to pull aside a few of the branches of the towering tree which gave me a clear view all the way to the trunk.  There on the ground was a nest.  If I hadn’t been looking for it I never would have seen it.  Surrounded by dried leaves it was almost invisible.  The center was lined with down and on that fluffiness lay  12  eggs.  I had found her secret.

For days I kept an eye on that tree and saw her leave and return several times each day.   Sometimes she was accompanied by a glistening, emerald green friend, probably the father of  her expected babies.  He stayed only a few minutes, then flew away toward a pond in the nearby field.  Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to pay her a call.  I crawled toward the tree again and very slowly parted the branches.  She was looking directly at me. I didn’t move, nor did she.  She didn’t even blink.  I talked softly to her so she would not be startled…her  gaze was  unwavering.  In awe I lay quietly, mesmerized at what I was seeing.  Here was one of nature’s miracles and if I reached out a hand I could touch it. But I didn’t.  She was magnificent, dedicated to protecting twelve little potential lives by pretending I didn’t see her.  I realized the only thing I could do to honor her dedication was withdraw and never bother her again.  Which I did.

My daughter-in-law, Laura, was pregnant with my first grandchild so I decided to have a baby shower for her in my backyard.  Occasionally, as I mowed the lawn, trimmed the hedges and readied the yard for a party I thought about the mallard  mommy, but I never tried to see her again.

The day of the shower was sunny and  beautiful.   Small tables dotted the yard and from our large maple tree hung colorful balloons.  THE blue spruce was only four feet from the dessert table.  No one invited to the party knew about the nest.  We played our amusing little shower games, ate lunch and were chatting when we heard a very audible “quack.”  From under the low branches of the spruce walked a tiny fluffy duckling.  Momma then emerged and with more quacking coaxed  eleven more little ones out onto the grass.  All  talking at the tables ceased.  There was an intake of breath as we all watched the drama unfold.  Without hesitation momma led her procession through the tables toward the fence surrounding our in-ground pool.  It was still covered with a large blue tarp as we hadn’t opened it up for the summer yet.  Facing us was a chain link fence, on the other three sides of the pool were board fences.  Momma led  gang around the pool house to the board fence where she found an opening and they all entered the pool area.   Why did I know there was pre-planning here?

She  walked to the edge of the pool where the steps were still covered but their configuration was quite visible under the blue tarp.  She gave quacked instructions to her brood and one little guy threw himself off the edge onto the first step.  Melted snow had filled the creases in the cover, creating little swimmable rivers. He quickly moved to one of them and started paddling…one down, eleven to go.  Some were reluctant to take that first big step but eventually all did.  Ladies were now lined up at the fence to watch the aquatic show.  Little ducklings were bobbing and diving and  having a great time.  Momma stood on the sidewalk, keeping an eye on them……and on us.

When my husband came home from work all our guests had left but the babies were still swimming .  He realized they would need a walkway to get out.  Quickly he put together a ramp with tiny little treads  for tiny little feet.  He angled the ramp up the stairs onto the concrete surrounding the pool.  None too soon.  Momma gave a few specific quacks and the first little duck walked up it and joined her…the rest soon followed…easier out than it had been going in.   As she walked away she quacked again and they followed her under the fence and into the nearby field.  We watched until they disappeared into tall weeds and laughingly declared the shower a total success.