Day 89

Having lived in suburban Ohio most of my life, looking out the window and seeing wildlife is not necessarily a rare occurance. We always have robins and sparrows, as well as an occasional cardinal, squirrels, and groundhogs. There's always a cat roaming around as well, since the lady down the street leaves them outside to breed constantly...

But every once in a while a less common animal shows up. We've had a hawk land in our front yard, and a couple deer as wel. Luckily, I haven't found any snakes yet. A possum gave my old bassett hound the fright of his life once, and I'm scared to death that one day my 175-lb Mastiff will meet a skunk- God help me if my husband is at work that day.

While cleaning the kitchen this morning, the dogs suddenly went on alert and started barking at the back door. Looking out and expecting a neighborhood cat, I was suprised to see two mallard ducks- one male and one female. Of course, ducks are everywhere in my town but I have literally never seen one in our neighborhood, let alone our backyard.

I watched them for a good while, and found myself amused with their exploration of foreign land. They were obviously a couple, and as I watched them stroll along the back of the yard I discovered what they were up to.

They were looking for a place to call home. Most likely to lay eggs. And it was uncanny how much I could similate their behavior to many human male/female interactions. It was like watching a man and woman go shopping- whether for shoes, or furniture, or a new home. The male looked like many of the forlorned men I have seen at the mall walking behind their woman or sitting in a chair while she peruses. Mr. Mallard lingered nehind the missus as well, looking bored and in general not paying much attention. Meanwhile, the female literally poked around in every nook and cranny of the back yard- I swear she even squatted in a few places like she was testing an area for appropriate egg-laying properties. She would look back at him every once and a while, getting a non-commital shrug from the male before moving on to the next area (ok, maybe that last part was a little projected, but it could have been a shrug instead of a wing movement...)

The more I watched, the more I was intrigued and silenty hoped they really would pick a place in our yard to start their family. But alas, they finally moved on to the next yard. They probably saw one of the Mastiff's "piles" out there and figured there were large, dangerous wild animals nearby...

I know the quality of today's picture is not that great, but it was just too cute of a story not to share. I watched a You-Tube video yesterday of an elephant literally painting a picture of an elephant. And today I watched a duck couple look for a home together. Maybe we are all more similar to each other than we think- Lord knows my 10-year old can smell like a pig sometimes! :)