Mabel and the Heron

I was down at Dirty Creek the other night, looking for the ducks when Mabel decided to take a swim...guaranteeing I would not see my ducks!

There was one creature that was not intimidated by her though:

Mabel stared at the heron and he kept watching her. In the end...she went on her way and the heron stood his ground. I love this photo for many reasons: I can read Mabel's prey drive in every fiber of her body; the heron's cautious posture; the way Dirty Creek is so over-grown this time of year (making it a safe haven for late-season ducklings!); and finally, that one strip of sunlight streaming right down the middle.

Since this set of photos was taken, I've seen the ducks...swimming in duckline and have been able to verify that all were present. But I hadn't seen all of them clear enough to count on this particular evening. I stashed Mabel in the car and drove around for quicker access to Dirty Creek at dusk.  While I stood there waiting, hoping with my camera, I became aware of duck noises coming from the runoff channel to my left. I couldn't see up the channel without getting into the pond. But there was definitely one duck in there.

I started to fret that one of the ducklings was separated from the team! I moved downstream to try and get a better view of the duck upstream. She was walking about and kind of fussing and I started to think it was Mallory. I told her, "It's O.K. girl! Go to your babies!" And she took off! I followed her with my camera and yes, she landed right in front of the tall grass the babies are living in! She went right in so I'm certain it was her!