190. Mating Day At The Pond

The constant quacking is what first drew my attention. One long continuous stream of agitated quacking. It just kept coming. Non-stop quacking. Quack quack quack quack quack. At first I was too far away to see where it was coming from, but as we got closer, I saw the big tan duck waddling next to the house. It just kept quacking. Like it didn't need to pause even to breath. It disappeared behind a bush just as a smaller, darker duck came into view. He quickly disappeared after her, but the quacking continued. Soon the bush started moving, and I could make out the progress of the pair by the dancing of the leaves. He was gaining on her. She made it to the far side of the bushes alone, but she only had a few seconds of freedom before the male burst out behind her. She gave one final quack of defiance before he caught her and mounted her. Then she sat down. 

I looked across the pond, and saw two more tans, darker than this one, leading a pack of five crowding males. I'm not sure which males won, or if they all took their turn. 

All the while, quacking rang around the pond.

It's mating day.