I've been watching a pair of wood ducks at Dutch Gap Conservation Area's old river channel wetlands. When wood ducks are starting their courtship rituals during breeding season, they are fantastically beautiful birds. You can see them here and here.
But now that the deed is done and there are seven children, they've kind of let themselves go.
In this shot, a frazzled Mrs. Wood Duck is escorting the ducklings around the wetlands, showing them the ropes.
Seven kids also explains why she played it cool in yesterday's picture as she was passing the turtle orgy...she doesn't have room to judge.
