This tiny duckling rests in the brooder after working hard to hatch from its egg. Anza Valley Outlook/Courtesy photo
Late spring is waterfowl hatching time, and this season promises a huge crop of ducklings and goslings, both wild and domestic.Geese can begin nesting in late February, but the most fertile eggs usually occur late March into April. Goose eggs take 34 days to hatch, lovingly kept warm by devoted mothers and guarded by vicious fathers. Goslings are self-sufficient as soon as they manage to exit the eggs, though typically ferociously tended to by the adults in the group. Being small, they can be prey for hawks, owls, bobcats, skunks, coyotes and foxes.Peeping and chirping, they happily feed along with the grown birds, who guide them to the choicest morsels of grass, grain and tender plants.A fluffy duckling warms up i
