My close encounter with ducks

▲The baby in the mother’s care feels so at ease and satisfied.

The little duck egg is hatched and formed next to the mother duck. It knows its mother as soon as it is born and can swim without being taught...

Thank God for giving me this opportunity to see the wonder of His creation.

Spring is here, and many new lives begin to be born. There are often wild ducks swimming in the creek behind my house. If you were in mainland China, it would be impossible to see such a harmonious scene between animals and humans. I remember that when I was in the first or second grade of elementary school, I saw wild geese flying in formation in the sky, but I never saw them again. Even now, there are still cases in China where sparrows are plucked alive and then roasted and eaten.

On this day, a pair of wild ducks were patrolling everywhere, as if they were looking for a place to lay their eggs. I watched every move of the duck couple and found that they chose a hole by the river and dug in the hole with their feet for a long time before leaving. Well, it will be time for the mother duck to lay eggs soon⋯⋯

Initial establishment of a sweet relationship

Wait patiently from dark until dawn. Running early in the morning to see if there are any duck eggs in the duck pit? When I walked to the nest, wow, what a surprise! I saw a green duck egg sitting quietly in the nest. After that, I went to see every morning; one, two, three little duck eggs... until the eleventh day, the pit was full of cute baby duck eggs, sleeping obediently.

The mother duck uses her own down to build a nest for her babies and make a thick mat for them to sleep comfortably. She squats on it and covers the babies with enough warmth. From the process of mother duck laying eggs, I saw that God has given these ducks wonderful wisdom.

I visit the mother duck on time every day and feed it corn. Although it likes to eat my corn, it doesn’t like me getting too close to it. If I make any move to touch it, it stares at me with a frightened expression. And blew harshly at me through his nose. Its ferocious look really scared me, so I had to retreat outside the range allowed by it. Its husband comes to accompany it every day, so it rarely leaves. Sometimes they come to me together to ask for corn to eat; but even if they eat my food, in principle, I am still not allowed to get too close to them.

The mother duck sometimes leaves the duck nest to look for food in the river. When she leaves, she covers the baby ducks tightly with a thick duck down quilt. I often use a small bamboo stick to open the eiderdown quilt when it is not around, and quickly take a few photos. Continuous contact makes our relationship better and better. Whenever I come out of the room to feed them, whether they are in the river or on the grass, they will swim or walk quickly, which makes me feel sweet. It was my first wonderful experience to be so close to wild animals.

Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, collapse

However, the good times did not last long,Just like friction and misunderstandings will arise when people get along with each other for a long time, the relationship between us and ducks cannot escape this law.Since they lay eggs during the rainy season in spring, we were afraid that the cold rain would cause gonorrhea to the mother ducks and their eggs, so we wanted to create good living conditions for them. My father and brother-in-law built a shed on the duck's nest to protect them from wind and rain. For ducks, such good food and housing conditions inevitably arouse the jealousy of their own kind, so another bad duck couple often come to disturb them and want to drive them away and invade their territory.

The bad duck couple often bully the mother duck when the father duck is away. The bad male duck will fly to its nest and peck it with its beak. The mother duck will be frightened and fly away, leaving the baby eggs in the nest pitifully and helplessly. inside. But the mother duck still cared about her baby and flew back to the nest again within a few minutes. At this time the bad drake came to drive it away again. In this way, you chase and I escape, repeatedly interpreting the turf war in the duck world. I often wonder why the father duck can't beat this bad drake? Can you only watch your wife and children being bullied from afar? Sometimes this Mr. Duck simply disappears from the world, which makes me realize the ancient saying that "husband and wife are like birds in the same forest, and they fly separately when disaster strikes."

Feeling sorry for the mother duck's situation, she decided to help her get rid of the bad duck couple. In the next few days, whenever they heard the call of the mother duck, they would quickly run out of the house and throw the pebbles they had prepared at the bad duck couple. When we throw stones, the bad duck will wisely keep its distance from the mother duck. Sometimes, they stand far upstream and downstream of the river, adjusting their invasion plan A or B; sometimes, they fly to a place where we can't see them to draft their plan C. Of course, sometimes we would imitate the Japanese "sneak attack on Pearl Harbor" while we were away.

One day, I was washing vegetables and cooking upstairs when I suddenly saw a male duck swimming towards the mother duck's nest. I shouted anxiously: "The bad male duck is here again!" When my sister heard this, she immediately ran to the river. Next, use the heavyweight stones we have prepared and throw them at the male duck. Unexpectedly, I usually couldn't hit the ball no matter what I threw, but that day I hit the drake hard on the back. After it was hit, it quickly swam downstream. We were so happy that we finally helped Mother Duck out. While I was rejoicing, it suddenly occurred to me that I had not seen Bad Duck's wife; they usually came together and never appeared alone. Only then did I suddenly realize that the one I hit was not the bad duck, but the father duck who came to accompany the mother duck!

There is no way to reconcile

Heartbroken, accompanied by regret and self-blame, my sister and I stood by the river blankly, not knowing what to do.At that time, I hoped in my heart that God would immediately give us the language to communicate with animals, so that we could properly apologize and explain to the duck couple...Tears welled up in his eyes, and he was worried about Father Duck's injury: Can he still walk? Can you still fly? Is there any bleeding? Will he die? Was Mother Duck frightened? Will you leave the egg babies behind and stay away from us who are cruel and ignorant? All kinds of pessimistic thoughts are tangled in my mind, and my heart feels so heavy...

Standing by the river, I stared blankly at the gurgling water, and slowly walked to the mother duck's nest. I looked at it with shame as it cast a judgment-filled look at me. The deeper self-blame weighed heavily on my heart. The beautiful relationship between us has now become nothing... I dare not look into the eyes of the mother duck anymore, and squat down by the nest to quietly accompany it and the eggs. After a long time, he said: "I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to hurt you. It was just because you all looked so similar that we couldn't tell the difference, so we hit Father Duck by mistake!"

For the next few days, Father Duck didn't show up. We were worried it might be too badly injured and dead. Just pray to God and ask it to be safe. One morning after praying for three or four days, I went to feed the mother duck. I saw the father duck standing far away on the river bank. I happily threw the food to him. I thought, as long as he is willing to eat my food, there will be peace between us. There is hope for reconciliation. However, when I threw the food at it, it quickly went down to the river and swam away. In the days that followed, Father Duck often came to visit Mother Duck and her children. But whenever we try to get close to it, it quickly moves away from us. There is really no way!

Rely on the Lord to Repair Relationships

During the period of repairing our relationship with the duck family, the bad duck couple still often wanted to drive away the mother duck, but we no longer dared to use stones to drive away any ducks. We could only stand by the river and roar a few times. This method sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't.However, God's creation is very wonderful. When we no longer interfere with the animal world in any artificial way, interesting things happen.When the father duck kept his distance from us, we found that there were four more male ducks near the river. Sometimes they came in two, sometimes four together, but they always came together, one male and one female. At first, I didn't understand their origin, but later I discovered that whenever the bad duck couple came to attack the mother duck, these male ducks would fly towards the bad duck couple and drive them away.

Why do these male ducks come to help the mother duck? I watched their comings and goings carefully, and gradually understood the reason. It turns out that every time these male ducks drive away the bad duck couple, they will swim together to the father duck on the other side. I just realized that these male ducks might be friends or relatives of Father Duck, and they came to help Father Duck and his family. Maybe the father duck couldn't beat the bad drake, and his injury hadn't healed yet, so he found some help. Under the powerful offensive of these male ducks, the bad duck couple no longer dared to attack the mother duck and the baby eggs, and the war ended.

Over time, our relationship with Father Duck began to improve. Although he still stood far downstream in the river and kept his distance from us, he no longer walked away. When we throw food, it will slowly eat it in the distance. Just like this, the father duck and us get closer little by little until it returns to the same state as before. We were so happy and kept giving thanks and praise to God! God not only allows us to build a beautiful relationship with Him, but also helps us build a beautiful relationship with animals and the natural world.

Because of our transgressions, we have brought harm and disrespect to animals, and we are unable to restore them. We can only rely on the Lord who created us to repair the damaged relationships. From this, I learned that no matter between people, between people and animals, or between people and nature, there must be certain boundaries in order to have a beautiful and harmonious relationship.

▲The new life that is about to break out of its shell will show the miracle created by God.

Amazing new life

After about forty days, I found that the mother duck spent more and more time away from the nest, and I felt that the time for the ducklings to hatch was imminent. When feeding every day, pay special attention to whether there are any cracks in the eggshell. One morning after the mother duck was sitting on the nest for four weeks, I went to feed the duck as usual. When I approached the nest, I found that the mother duck did not cover the duck eggs with duck down, but left them exposed. So, I saw a scene that surprised and delighted me - several eggshells in the nest were cracked...

There are more and more cracked eggs. Several ducklings are constantly pecking at the eggshells. There is also a duckling who is pecking and looking out from the cracks in the eggshell! But the speed was very slow. Even after dark, not a single duckling had emerged from its shell. Early the next morning, before I even got close to the nest, I heard a lot of "chirp" sounds. I slowly approached and saw five or six ducklings clinging to their mother's side. Some were hiding under her belly. There were a few ducklings. It was exposed outside and stretched out its little head to look at me. It looked so cute! I really wanted to hold a little duck in my hand and take a closer look, but the mother duck stared at me fiercely and nervously, so I had to step back.

▲The curious baby duck is eager to travel far away with his mother to explore the beautiful new world.

I can see the duck nest from my kitchen window. One day, when I was washing vegetables, I saw the mother duck leaving the nest and swimming into the river. I was so happy that I picked up my camera and ran to the nest, fully expecting a bunch of fluffy little ducks to be inside. Unexpectedly, there was not a single one in the nest. Turning around again, we turned out to be standing on the other side of the river with Mother Duck! I watched them follow their mother and walk toward the river one by one without fear. Not far away, Father Duck was waiting for them, looking proud to be a duck father. Father Duck took his wife and children and continued swimming downstream until they were completely out of sight.

Watching their family go away, I feel a little disappointed and hope they will come back soon! Unexpectedly, after waiting hopefully for several days, they did not return "home". Only when the mother duck occasionally passes by with her ducklings, can we meet again.Thank God for giving me this opportunity to see with my own eyes the wonder of His creation - a little duck egg is hatched and formed next to the mother duck. It knows its mother right from birth and knows how to swim without being taught.I pray that God will give me more wisdom and know how to respect animals, respect nature, and respect myself.

Author profile
Jiang Niao believed in the Lord and was baptized in 1995. After that, he attended house churches in China for the next ten years. He once preached in Kunming, Guangzhou, and Guiyang, and also worked in special education, serving orphans and disabled children in a charity organization in the UK. He came to the United States in 2005 and is currently studying at a university in Pennsylvania. Love all living things in nature.