30 June 2025
This spring my mother’s next door neighbor discovered a mallard nesting in her front yard under the shrubs that line her home’s foundation. It seemed like an unsafe place but Mrs. Mallard had her reasons.
Nesting mallards must be alert for a wide variety of predators including raptors, snakes, weasels, red foxes and raccoons. You would think they’d also avoid humans but our constant presence keeps many of those predators away. That was the calculation Mrs. Mallard made and she was right.
One day a black rate snake approached the nest but the neighbors went on high alert and saved the day. Caroline, who took these photos, drove away the snake with a technique so successful that the snake never came back.
One day after they hatched, Mrs. Mallard led her “kids” down the street to the nearest water. Her protectors wished them all a fond farewell.
How did she drive the snake away! My daughter recently had one
Caroline pushed a broom down repeatedly onto his skin. “His skin is delicate so it did the trick. I have also used a water hose, full force.”