Today at the Verona Park, we witnessed one of those sad parts of nature. When we first got to the park, we saw a family of ducks - a mother and nine chicks - and another mother with one who was frantically paddling to keep up with her. We watched the kids clamber up the wall where the falls are and wash back down when they misstepped. The single mom and her duckling were chased away by the mom with the nine kids. Eventually the single mom left her kid and went up to flirt with a mallard at the top of the falls. The baby couldn't make it up and every time s/he went near the other bunch of ducklings, their mom chased him/her away. If there had been a DYFS (Duck Youth and Family Services) I would've 911ed them. We left and I yelled at the mama duck, who, naturally, gave me a look like she didn't give a fig....

Later as we got back to the part of the lake where the kids had been, we saw the nine kids and their mom and the mallard and the other female at the top of the falls. We checked around for the single duckling, but didn't see it. A mom and her human kid came along and said they had seen a dead duckling. The mom said she saw the duck who had the nine kids carrying the one in her beak - and it had been alive. Apparently the female thought this one little duckling was a threat to her nine and dispatched it. The other female didn't seem to care. Natural selection at work... Sigh. I would've tried to save the little guy if I had known that other duck would kill it.....

An old picture of the falls - more water going over than today.