I was out today with my younger students and we watched a pair of mallard
fly into a small wet, grassy puddle at the edge of where we were going to
tag plants. I got the group all huddled and 14 of us slowly approached the
pair. I keep talking in a low voice about how this duck can just jump right
out of the water into the air and with each step I kept expecting the pair
to fly. Closer and closer we came and finally the ducks started acting
agitated so we stopped. Well, those ducks made a liar out of me, cause they
just stayed there the whole time we were working, running, yelling and
stopping to stare at 6 feet away as they swam and muttered about. As if this
was not charming enough, the male walked out of the water and waddled
between a couple of students over to a grassy knot and started foraging, no
more than 4 feet from a couple of kids who froze like Statues.

After our 10 minutes of work was done and we had gathered up again on the
sidewalk and turned to go, the ducks started quaking, and spontaneously the
kids all turned and waved and said "bye". The youngest person in the group,
a four year old little brother summed it up for the group when he said,
"Ducks are nicest birds."

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
Snohomish County, WA