Darling Ducklings Growing Up

A confident little duckling.

I'm trying to catch up on putting all my photos on posts as we have been very busy over the last few weeks but I am getting there.

The ducklings are charging around the pond.
A big difference compared to a couple of weeks before when
they wouldn't stray far from Mum.

We went back to the Peace Flame Garden at the Wellington Botanical gardens a few weeks ago and saw a big change in the ducklings.  They were bigger, more confident and very cheeky.

Ducking (excuse the pun) under the water for bits of food.

They were causing their parents a lot of grief.
The concerned parents had a hard time keeping an eye on their very energetic and curious off-spring.

Time for a quick grooming session before getting back to
the babysitting duties.

The little fluffy speed boats were a real joy to watch.
We must go back very soon to see how much they have grown now.

Paddling around at full speed.
It looks like so much fun.

The ducklings were keeping everyone amused.
It was a beautiful day so lots of people were at the Botanic Gardens that day.

Mum checking on her babies.
They were back in the water soon after this.

The ducklings would get out of the pond to have a bit of a groom in the sun and then go back into the water.
Mum just stayed up on the bank but always had her eye on them.

Here's Dad keeping them in his view.

The ducklings had no fear of all the people watching so put on a good show and came right up to the deck.

Standing guard over the duck families.

So one of the male ducks stood guard making sure that no one got too close.
It was all very sweet!!!!!