The Little Things in Life

I witnessed a very special time with a merganser mother and her youngsters at Huntley Meadows Park.  The mother flew out of this box, flew back in, rumbled around a bit (the nesting box was rocking!), and then flew to the ground.  
A baby then showed up at the opening, hesitated, and then jumped (roughly 5 feet/1.5 meters) to the ground to be with its mother. The next sibling did the same thing and the process repeated until all 15 youngsters were on the ground! Once momma verified all present, she led them through the marsh grass and then out to open water.    
Thank you Osuzanna for getting me motivated to post this  (it has been a couple of months since I have been on Blip - all OK, just lazy)!