I'd run away too! What a beautiful bird.

Did you really have ducks in the pool? That could be yucky! I hope your complex tests the water a lot.

Yes, we do get ducks in the pool, and yes, the water is tested twice a day! It's pretty obvious when a duck uses our pool as a loo! It gets swept into a drain or vacuumed up. Actually, compaired to what a toddler might do in a pool, duck poop is harmless!!

Ducks are far more bothersome earlier in the summer, and then when people start swimming every day, they're pretty much gone. We did have one duck come in last week end though... I don't know what the heck he was thinking!!

However, that guy in the picture, he's far more interested in munching on squirrels than ducks. He sure is a beauty though, isn't he?

I saw his cousin today!

I heard a bird flap into the bed behind me as I planted something, so I turned to look. Then a hawk landed on the arbor that is 10 feet away--he'd been chasing the little bird! I don't think he even saw me. He left a few seconds later.

Do the ducks nest in your complex and bring their babies to the pool? I love duckings!

They have done that before, usually when the pool first opens in the early summer. They leave when the humans get to be too much. The ducks do nest in strange places. Our Association Pres. has a nest near his first floor unit almost every year. He lives across from the pond, but it's odd because he has a few cats and a dog, plus his unit is near the front door to the building so it does see some traffic.

The ducks are a whole lot easier to tolerate than all the Canadian geese we have! They're cuter and not nearly as messy!

Definitely odd, that they nest where there's a lot of human and animal traffic, instead of a quieter spot. It makes more sense if it's a great ledge for a bird's nest, but don't ducks nest on the ground?

I'd love to have a couple of pet ducks, or even chickens. There's actually a little swamp behind my house where the duckies could swim, but there are also roaming dogs and coyotes, so I'd be too afraid for them. And, of course, the hawks!

We have coyotes too, but they don't ever come close to the buildings. Gary actually has to use the front door to walk his dog, if he goes out the patio, the way he likes to go, the dog will chase off the ducks and mother might abandon the nest. Good thing Gary is such a sweet guy, besides being an animal lover... I'd say those ducks made a pretty good choice. ;)

That's very nice of him to alter his habits while they nest! I had robins in my yard, and they abandoned their eggs because I kept scaring them. They nested 8 feet from my back door, and they would freak out if they noticed me anywhere in the backyard. Since last year's birds (in a different spot) didn't panic like that, and since my BF's robins were 4 feet from his front door and got used to him, I thought my birdies would learn to deal with it. They didn't, they just left their eggs. :(

A new pair of robins came a couple of months later (maybe the cool ones from last year) and nested on top of my gutter downspout, a bit further from the door. I've even forgotten about them occasionally and worked right under their nest, and nobody panicked. I hope they come back next year! Besides it being fun to watch them, I think I have fewer japanese beetles because of these birdies.

I thought I was the only Chicago-arean to have coyotes! I'm going to guess you have a lot of forest preserves nearby?

I live in the far northwest burbs, next to a small farm. We have acres and and acres of open land. We have a huge pond next to a running creek, actually, the coyotes are quite comfy.

Although... wasn't it last year when a coyote made himself comfy in a cooler at the downtown Chicago Quiznos??

Here is a link that might be useful: What was he thinking???