Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Feeding and Observing the Ducks

We took a nearby field trip to feed and observe the ducks at a lake close to our home. Ducks were one of our science themes for D week, so we took some time to just go casually observe them together.

We took a cheap loaf of bread for them... Wonderbread whole wheat is actually the cheapest thing at Wal-Mart and cost $1.50.

There were quite a lot of ducks today!

The ducks didn't want to get too close to the girls...

We have never seen this type of duck at the lake before... and it was the only one. Anyone know if this is some rare exotic breed? ;) Sure is pretty, whatever it is!

And then the geese came... and they are not at all timid! At least all the mean white geese have been removed from the lake... it used to be overrun with them! We got to see a few flocks of ducks and geese landing on the water... pretty cool.

Quack.

There are only a few white ducks left at the lake... there used to be more along with the mean white geese, but they really looked rather mangy. I think most of them were removed with the white geese to make the lake a more pleasant experience... And look at the duck in the front: it has a cotton ball on its head. Weird!

Caroline sketches some of the ducks in her Nature Notebook

These tree trunk things (I don't know where they came from, but the trees did not grow here - these have been placed here somehow!) made a great spot for observing and sketching (or poking holes in the paper, as the case may be with Cecilia).

And here are Caroline's sketches:

duck with red eye

duck with cotton ball

Yes, this one says "goose with no leg." It had part of a leg, but no foot. I don't know how this happens, but we frequently see one or two Canada geese who have one foot missing. They tend to stay off to the side and not within the flock because they get picked on - survival of the fittest at work, I guess. They must be pretty tough to be able to survive that way, though. They can swim fine and hobble around as best they can.

No ducklings since it is fall... maybe we'll go back to observe them in the spring!

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