<html><body><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><div>Just about an hour ago I was driving next to the General Store in Minnetonka, just south of Hiway 7, when some ducks in the road caused me to slow down. There were nine tiny ducklings, a day or two old, no more. Their mothers were guiding them across the road to a ;tiny pond just south of the General Store parking lot. Both female mallards were tending the brood. I watched them as long as I could until they went into heavy cover.</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>I have never seen two mallard hens working in tandem to take care of one brood. I wonder how that happened. Geese do it all the time, and single ducks of many species can add some stragglers to their broods. But two moms?</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>I worry about them because the ducks often want to cross the Hiway to ponds on the north side, and the traffic is intense.</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>Don Grussing</div><div>Minnetonka</div></div></body></html>