Duck Surprises

Surprise 1: they ate a pile of cracked corn last night. It was as if they knew what I had posted yesterday, about them refusing to eat cracked corn. Not an hour after I wrote it, they sauntered up to the golden pile and gobbled it up like nobody's business. It was slushy, so maybe that's the secret. Corn soup! Maybe it just needed a touch of slurp going down. No matter what, I rejoiced! I don't want my ducks to starve this winter, so I am glad to see some versatility in their eating habits.

Surprise 2: They like, I mean LIKE, maybe even LOVE, the cold. They proved it today by taking ice baths in the melted slush. At least the girls did. They took their time and relished every moment. No hurrying. They dawdled at it. They savored the moment. White downy breasts plunged in the water, over and over again...just soaking up the icy cold in the arctic air.

They also did a bit of paddling and wing-flapping. It was like they'd been given a pass to the day spa. They flung the water over their heads and backs for a shower.

They were in slushy sub-frozen bliss.

There was also some dedicated neck-craning; some extensive grooming from gray to glossy white; they waddled and flapped and washed themselves feather by feather.

Except Coal.

Surprise 3: He wouldn't go near it. He turned his back on his girlfriends the entire time they were in the water. He just stood there, without budging, with his backed turned, and wouldn't even look.

What the heck? Was he bored? Was he mad? Was he worried? or...

was it some secret duck code of honor--eyes averted for the ladies' bath?

We will wait and watch for the answer to this mystery, but let's just face it, people. We may never know the mind of bossy duck boyfriends.

(and yes, this was pretty much what I did with my day)