Birds of a Feather

I won't bore everyone with a detailed recap of our family's duck saga. Suffice it to say that we got four ducklings just over 3 years ago (it seems like much longer), have had many, many duck descendants pass through our world, and are left with just one. He is one of the original four, so I'm thinking he must have some type of duck super powers to have survived the deadly elements around here. He has gotten much more people friendly since the demise of his last duck companion. Sometimes I think he has been a little too friendly. I did not enjoy, for instance, the morning I came out on the porch to discover him sitting right outside my door beside a pile of ducky delight. Ugh! Anyway, we worried a little over him--concerned that he would not be happy without companionship within his own species. But he seemed to get by just fine between following us around and visiting the chicken coop.

Then, about a month ago, a juvenile guinea hen wandered up into our yard. We have no idea where she came from. She was too small to put in with the chickens, so we stuck her in the duck pen. We've just started letting her out the past few days. At first, she stayed very close to the pen, but today she decided she was safe enough to venture out and about the place. We're getting a kick out of her funny little sounds and seeing her wander through the trees and bushes. And it looks like our duck got a friend out of the bargain too.