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Sunday, 13 June 2004 00:00 |
 I have written about the waterfowl families that live in this lagoon at Weir's Beach. When we arrived here I was excited to see two duck families, one slightly older with nine ducklings and the other, younger with five and a family of Trumpeter swans. Several days ago I heard a loud ruckus on the lagoon to which I went outside to investigate.
One of the swans was furiously chasing the mother of five ducks with her tiny babies and she was frantic. My instant reaction was to distract the swan to give the baby ducks a chance to reunite with their mother. My flailing around on shore probably only served as a source of humour for any onlookers because it certainly had no impact on the swan. I watched helplessly as the swan proceeded to mercilessly attack the ducklings, one by one until I couldn't see any at all.
For the past few days I have watched the family of nine growing ducklings with their proud mother staying close by. Today while I was taking pictures of this rapidly maturing family, the former mother of five slowly paddled closer with her one remaining baby in tow. It was the first time I had seen her since the day of the swan's attack and as sad as I was that her family was greatly reduced, I was relieved to see at least one remaining duckling. As cruel as the swan's actions seemed to be, I know that nature takes a course that must be left alone and it was difficult for me to accept that I couldn't help the mother duck that day.
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