April 27th Daddy Duck!

This morning we woke up to daddy duck walking around the front lawn. He seemed to be protecting the momma duck who was in the nest. My neighbor taught me something interesting about the male duck. He said that you can tell how old the duck is by how many curls it has on it's tail. As you can see this duck is 2 years old. He also told me that they start to loose their coloring when they mate.

The momma duck has been sitting on her nest all day today. She came out for a few minutes to eat and stretch and then she went right back to the nest. Here are a few pictures of her taking a little break. Since she has been sitting on the nest all day, we can now try to figure out the due date of the ducklings. She will sit on the eggs for 28 days before they hatch. So, May 25th is the ETA!

We want to give the momma a name. My son says her name should be "Bessie." My daughter says her name should be "Chocolate Brown." My husband says her name should be "Maria el Pato." I'm thinking maybe "Esperanza" would be good because it means hope in Spanish. We really "hope" the eggs hatch. What do you think we should name the duck? Give us some ideas or vote for one of these names.