More than 200 waterfowl spend January and February on the old stockponds at Coldwater Farm.  Daily, I scatter six pounds of rolled corn on the causeway between two of the ponds.  Most of the ducks in the photographs below are mallards, but a few coots, ruddy ducks, pintails, ringnecks, and widgeons are present.  Wood ducks came earlier but moved on.

Ducks are not a serene species.  Furious battles and outbursts of quacks occur day and night.  When it is quiet down at the ponds I know the ducks have fled a predator or a two-legged marauder.

The ducks look forward to the daily corn delivery.  If I miss a day, they come to the backyard where they mill around clucking, quacking, and gleaning songbird feed.  When I come out, they lead the way back to the pond, confident that the corn is coming.                         (UPCSWEBMSB68).