Final Frame: Wood Duck Blast Off!

A photographer captures the moment wood ducklings leap from their nest box

• NWF Staff
• PhotoZone
• Mar 30, 2015

WITH THE SEEMING OPTIMISM OF YOUTH, wood duck hatchlings jump from a duck box on the Bad River in St. Charles, Michigan. After their mother scans the area for predators, she calls out to her young, who make this leap of faith to join her on the river below.

“They don’t fly–no flight feathers. They just kind of glide like a ball of down, and when they hit the water they barely make a splash,” says photographer Kim LeBlanc, who monitors this and other duck boxes near his home. “Once they head down the river, it’s the last time I’ll see them.”

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