The ducklings started hatching Sunday night. We could only see tiny duckling heads peeking out from under L'Orange's wings from time to time... sometimes two or three at a time... VERY tiny! Then on Monday, L'Orange and her 12 babies spent most of the day swimming. Very tiny, very cute, and surprisingly good swimmers.

This morning they were literally standing around waiting at the gate in the back-corner of the yard, trying to figure out how to open it (latches are tough when you don't have thumbs). I walked out and opened the gate for L'Orange, who went through, and the babies followed, mostly going right through the chain-link fence-- easy to do when you're the size of a silver dollar.

Although the tiny ducklings can easily move back and forth between the inside/outside of the fence, L'Orange is forced to fly back and forth. However, since it seems that she refuses to fly with her non-flying offspring around, I doubt she'll be clever enough to fly over the four-foot-tall fence knowing that the kids could just meet her on the other side. I'm thinking that they will NOT be back.

Occasionally the males visit, but they'll get the old tennis ball treatment now, and won't be around for long. Hopefully the pool will be open and duck-free in a week or so (depending on weather).