Duck Ramp at the Capitol Reflecting Pool

It’s been about six weeks since we’ve seen the female mallard ducks. They have all been hiding somewhere in plain sight, while the males are hanging about in groups. Until today! When we took our morning walk towards the National Mall, we walked by the very familiar Smithsonian American Indian Museum pond and looked around. Off in the distance was a mother duck with about ten ducklings swimming along the edges where the water meets the mud. On our way back we checked out the Capitol reflecting pool. There were many ducks everywhere including a lone baby in search of it’s family. The Architect of the Capitol constructed at least two ramps for the tiny ones to climb on to get back in to the pool. It’s not unusual to see visitors trying to catch and release the ducklings who struggle to get back in to the water once they get out of it. The sides to the pool are just too high to navigate at an early age. We didn’t walk all the way over to the corner where most of the birds congregate at that time of the day. It’s the twelfth year now that we’ve watched spring turning to summer in DC. And the ducklings are a sure sign of things to come.