Walking along the boardwalk at my local marsh yesterday morning, scanning the surface of the water, I noticed some movement and suddenly a female Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) with eight little ducklings swam into view. They were pretty far away in the shallow water, amidst the plants that have sprung up, but I managed to get a few shots of the family. The female Hooded Merganser ducks cares for the young alone, unlike the Canada Geese families that I see at the marsh, in which both parents are present.
I was heartened to see this group of ducklings, because I had heard from others at the marsh of dwindling number of ducklings earlier in the season. I have no idea how many of these little ones will survive—they seem so small and vulnerable (not to mention cute) and the snapping turtles are huge in comparison.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Looks like mama really has her hands (?) full.
Indeed she does. Protecting and keeping an eye on that many is a really challenge, I suspect.
Nicely done.
This is too cute!! and all babies have the same hairstyle as their mom 😀
Good luck, mama. She has a lot of babies to tend and no help from dad.
AWW LOVE IT SO CUTE 🙂