A few odds and ends from around town

[cosmo3667]

A female Wood duck seems to have adopted this family of Baby Mallards But in hindsight they remarkably like Baby Mallards till they age abit. South Ressor road pond


A family of young Mallards huddle together for safety and warmth





A Baby Northern Cardinal has fledged and is exploring the new world, Rosetta McClain Gardens

[AcemanDanny]

Great shots of the female wood duck and the baby mallards, sad but cute.
Was at Rosetta today as well. Lots of babies throughout the park but never got to see the baby cardinal. Maybe next time.

[Reuven_M]

Why do you think they are baby mallards and not wood ducks? They look very similar.

[Blacksheep]

I really like your photos of the baby cardinal!

[Brian Bailey]

I agree with Reuven, that the ducklings in the first photo are most likely Wood Ducks. Aside from the behaviour, I think they actually look more like Wood Ducks.  I believe the eyeline of a Mallard duckling usually extends forward all the way to the bill, but on Wood Ducks ends at the eye.  

Nice shots of the Cardinal.  A face only a mother could love!

BB

Sent from my birdroid using Tapatalk

[Lundy]

I am by no means an expert, but I thought Wood duck ducklings looked different.

Found this photo from last summer. (This was taken in August, so the ducklings are definitely older than the one in the photo.)

[Brian Bailey]

The age of the birds makes all the difference.  The ducklings are much older in your shot from last year. (They change fast!)  You can even pick out their gender.

BB

Sent from my birdroid using Tapatalk

[Rotarran]

I do remember seeing Wood Ducklings in a couple of different places and I agree that they look very similar to the Mallard ducklings.  Perhaps Cosmo expected them to look substantially different from Mallard ducklings.