There is a pond in front of my condo that always seems to have geese, ducks, cranes, turtles and a few small fish doing their living. They supply endless entertainment and a good outlet for all my stale bread and old cereal.
Geese are dirty, aggravating animals mostly - especially when they "do their business" everywhere they walk and begin honking at sunrise. I tend to forgive them in the spring when their goslings are born. These babies, usually five to seven of them, follow their geese parents everywhere they go. In turn, their parents never let their little goslings out of their sights. It is a beautiful sight to see every spring. As it is with all parents, it's amazing how fast the little ones grow up!
Ducks, on the other hand, seem to me to be more interested in breeding or playing-hard-to-get. It is not uncommon to see a female duck trying her best to avoid the unwanted advances of male ducks. I don't know a whole lot about "duck love," but it sometimes appears that ducks "mate for life." This seemed to be validated recently when I looked out to see these two (husband-wife or girlfriend-boyfriend) ducks swimming together in the pouring rain, touching one minute and avoiding each other the next. It was a ballet of "can't live with you and can't live without you" movements!
As I watched them, out there in the pouring rain, I was reminded of something my mother used to say to us kids when we seemed oblivious and clueless. Reaching the peak of her frustration, she would shout, "You kids haven't got sense enough to come in out of the rain!" As I watched the ducks that day, I stood there wondering if "duck love" doesn't do that to ducks?
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