Homeschool Pond Study Mid-May – Ducklings!

homeschool pond study - ducklings

We’ve been so busy at our pond watching the swans and coots nest, we didn’t notice that the ducks had been quietly getting on with it until we visited this week to find a clutch of ducklings!

homeschool pond study ducklings

homeschool pond study - ducklings

There were six ducklings on Monday.  They were very tame so we were able to study them close-up. The children distinguished one that is the only one with pale stripes along the side of its beak. They’ve named it “Link”.

duckling - homeschool pond study
“Link” with pale stripes on his beak

The new arrivals were so cute we visited them again on Wednesday. This time there were only five ducklings of the original clutch. We were pleased to see our “Link” still among them.

Ducklings

One of our favourite ducks – the one we haven’t been able to identify (a cross-breed?) was nestled on the grass by the water’s edge.  We watched her quietly for a while, and then she moved to reveal a single, tiny duckling underneath her!

homeschool pond study - ducklings
Hiding her little one
homeschool pond study - ducklings
There he is!

homeschool pond study - ducklings

One animal we weren’t so happy to see at the pond edge was this black predator! There are houses all around the edge of the pond so I guess it’s not surprising cats come and try their luck with the tame little ducklings.

homeschool pond study - ducklings

In other pond news, our swan is still nesting.

homeschool pond study nesting swan

The pair of Egyptian geese are back, having disappeared for several weeks.

Egyptian geese - homeschool pond study

Yellow irises are beginning to bloom.

iris pseudacorus - homeschool pond study

We noticed lots of these (lily?) rhizomes in the shallows. The children decided they were alien pods (very scientific, ahem).

homeschool pond study rhizome

A few hundred yards from our pond is a much more secluded set of ponds. Only a few shy birds swim on these, and they teem with life.

homeschool pond study tadpoles
Tadpoles

 

homeschool pond study pond skater
Pond skater

 

homeschool pond study pond spider

I wonder how many ducklings we’ll see next week?

homeschool pond study

For previous pond study posts dating back to early March, see here.

Thanks to AngelicScalliwags for inspiring us to begin our pond study.

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Science Sunday
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

10 thoughts on “Homeschool Pond Study Mid-May – Ducklings!

  1. Oh, ducklings!!!! I’m so jealous! We’ve got a bit of nesting going on but no babies yet- I can’t wait, they are so darned cute!
    Lovely photos, Lucinda.

  2. Inspired to go visit our ducks and goslings later today… if it stops raining. Do you turn into indoor people with the first rains? We’re outdoors all the time–and then we get a stretch of too beautiful weather that spoils us, and then it rains, and I forget how to get dressed to go outside…

    1. For me it’s the cold. We had a few days of sunshine a couple of weeks back which got me all excited and now we’re back to coats. I never used to go out in rain but now we’ve got a dog I have that joy quite regularly. Probably good for me…
      Hope we get goslings soon too.

  3. Thank you for sharing some beautiful pictures from your pond study, how fascinating and interesting for the children to experience this in ‘real life’ as opposed to looking in a book!

  4. Those ducklings sent me into cuteness overload! The one pond nearby that had ducklings on a regular basis has been ripped up by “park improvements.” UGH.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *