Ducks Again

It seems we have a new set of ducks coming onto our little square footer paradise.
Because most of them have quite different beak markings, my identity method has been to check these, followed by their feather colouring. Unfortunately isn't so easy to do this when you get several ducks that look incredibly similar, so I tend not to name those ones.

Previously we had Missy and Mr & Mrs Handsome, but they have moved on and we've not seen them in a long time. Limpy drops by from time to time, but his visits are infrequent.

Since April this year we've had several pairs visiting each day, but now we're wondering if the females are away sitting on eggs because we see them infrequently.  In fact we're male duck dominated at the moment, with one or two females turning up with their mates every now and again.

This morning there were Mr & Mrs Besty, Mr & Mrs Grumpy Brown and 'the boys'.
The Besty's I have named because they are so sweet and follow me around like my best friends (Oh yeah? You know it's really about the food I give them).  Consequently, the term 'best friends'  turned into 'bestys'.

Mr & Mrs Grumpy Brown are named because the male is nasty and grumpy. He has a predominantly brown chest and body, and constantly attacks all the other ducks. In fact he's so nasty, I chase them off when I can but they just keep coming back.

The 'boys' are 4 male ducks who seem to happily congregate and chat together quietly (whaa, whaa, whaa) and have no accompanying females.

Here are 3 of the 4 'boys' feeding this morning.

This is Mr & Mrs Grumpy Brown.

And here is Mr & Mrs Besty - aren't they cute?

The ducks have really become a big part of our lives here.  They hang around when you're working in the garden, they settle on the lawn with head tucked under a wing, they stand at the door calling to be fed,  they give a loud 'whaaa' when they fly in and again as they fly out, they circle over the house several times to announce their arrival, they rush out when you come home from work and clamour around the car before you get out.  Sometimes it's even difficult to drive down our driveway, because of our duck 'fans' clamouring for our attention.

They're just part of the family, you might say.