Thursday Bird Blogging

(Photograph by Bates Littlehales abd published at National Geographic.)

Mallard ducks are pretty ubiquitous in North America, even in urban areas. When the light rail train I take into work each day crosses the Los Angeles River (which is lined with concrete, ugly stuff), I usually see at least one grouping of ducks paddling, or, at this time of the year when the river is low, walking around in the water looking for edibles. This year I watched a mother teach her ducklings to swim and to search for food in that murky water. Since they're all still there as of this morning, they must find something to keep them sustained. I guess they have learned to adapt to the silliness of humans.