Mallard Family

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This Mallard mother has her hands full with a brood of eight tiny ducklings. Fortunately, the youngsters  possess the ability to swim and feed when they hatch. They will stick close to mom up to two months until they have perfected their flying skills. Until then, hen and ducklings will swim and walk together as a group, just as they are here, resting on a log in a duckweed covered tributary of Skagit Bay.

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SKAGIT BAY ESTUARY

SKAGIT COUNTY, WA, USA

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