Today, we went on another nature walk.  Funny, how all of a sudden I'm seeing so many opportunities for nature study in my own neighborhood.  Such a daunting task has become as easy as stepping out of my own front door!

Just a block down the hill our subdivision has its own little duck pond.

So we walked down there today.  My plan was to just toss some bread to the ducks, then go to the nature trail we discovered last week.  The kids, however, did what they were supposed to do!  We discovered all kinds of things this morning!

Drew pointed out all the ducks.  He even learned two new words today:  Duck and Geese ("Gee").

In a small copse of trees, the girls found a bunch of ducks just sitting around.

Then, find of all finds!, they discovered a duck egg:

No wonder all those ducks were just sitting around in the trees!  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that ducks nested in February!  Yet here is proof.  And no wonder we never saw any ducklings last year.  We moved here in April.  The ducklings were hatched and mostly grown by the time we saw them, I'm sure.  But it certainly will be fun to see as these eggs hatch and the ducklings grow into ducks this spring and summer!

Here's a duck that I have not been able to identify:

We have a bunch of these red-headed ducks and I can't find them in our field guide.  If anyone knows what this duck is called, I'd certainly appreciate it!

***Update 2/19/08***  Thanks to several wonderful fellow bloggers, my duck has been identified as a Muscovy Duck.  You can read more on this breed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscovy_Duck.  I appreciate the help!!! ******

We left the duck pond well over an hour after we arrived.  Then, as we walked home, we discovered a new trail up behind our subdivision.  So we walked up the trail and followed it for awhile.  The kids collected several rocks and we all got very dirty from the red clay that disquises itself for dirt in our area.

We had a great time and expect more great times to come.  Who would have thought nature study would be so exciting!

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Posted by Anonymous

http://www.flickr.com/photos/freddalynn/78744037/

muskogee duck.

enjoy your blog!

Wendy B.

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Posted by milkmaidmama

That pic looked a lot like our pond...ducks and all! I enjoyed ya'lls adventure!! PS we always called those red headed ducks muscovey...google it and you'll know for sure!!

Edited by milkmaidmama on Feb. 18, 2008 at 11:19 PM

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Posted by Anonymous

The duck in question looks like a Muscovey to me. We used to raise them when we lived on a farm. Though we live in Missouri and they did quite well here they are native to south America if my memory serves me correctly. We raised them for meat. They taste much more like Turkey than duck. They lay clutches of eggs. Our ducks would sit on about 15 eggs at a time.

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Posted by momofgirls

Wow!! Your nature study looks like so much fun! And you definitely hit the jackpot with that egg find. Great job!

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Posted by Courtney

you found an egg - how cool! Wish we still lived close enough to nature walk together - wouldn't the kids have a blast!

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Posted by JandRlearnathome

We have those muscovy ducks in the canal near our house... sometimes they walk over to our house and pant for food, because I let the kids go out and feed them on our lawn once. Yes, pant. Like a dog. They are very strange ducks... God has a good sense of humor, LOL!

I can't believe how big Drew is, and how much he looks like Audrey! :)

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Posted by Anonymous

Don't you just love Muscovy ducks? They are so ugly they are almost pretty!!!! Here is a video clip of muscovy ducks at Swan Lake in Sumter, SC.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=522501399806550830

Tammy
http://aut2bhomeincarolina.blogspot.com

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