the wild bunch

the other morning i saw something darting erratically back and forth across the creek: it was a baby mallard duck who must have been separated from his family during the previous night's storm. george-i named him after george washington, who was born nearby-quickly adapted to his new environment in my hand, and took a nap. the dog was curious until george nipped his nose, then he became suspicious...and looked to me for some kind of explanation as to why this beast was in the house with us.

i wanted to reunite george with his family, but hadnt seen any mallards close by in a few weeks...i resigned to keep him! i had a duck for a few weeks when i was a kid-aristotle-so i have duck experience. unfortunately, the mister had a different idea and forced me to call a wild animal rescue, the wild bunch. reluctantly, i agreed and we drove to the shelter that evening. i handed over george to the volunteer who promptly placed him in a terrarium, where he peeped to return to the warmth of my palm: i was sad.

there were many other animals-especially babies- at this facility near the rappahanock river. 

the baby grey foxes were cute and this one growled under his breath as i dropped my hand to take it's photo: adorable!

i loved the possums! hard to tell if they are dead or just messing with you, though!

there were a lot of birds of prey at the wild bunch: barred owls, great horned owls and osprey...they released an eagle last week. these juvenile osprey were rescued from the water after a storm. love osprey: they are my favorite bird.

the baby raccoon just wanted to have fun!

so, anyway...i felt like george was in good hands despite there not being any other ducklings there, because singles tend to hang around longer at their adoptive house. then yesterday i saw her in the creek: the mother duck with three ducklings.

poor george: all alone in that terrarium.