A female Mallard duck hidden in the cattails usually is so well camouflaged that we never know she is there, as was almost the case yesterday.
But, once her ducklings are hatched, Mom loses much of her control over being unseen – no matter how stoically still she remains, her young seem incapable of following her example; their little ripples almost always give the family hiding place away.
After a while, with a lot of patience and a minimum of movement, a photographer might be lucky enough to witness family life resuming on the open pond. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 10, 2022.)