Wildlife in Our Yard

There have been a few wildlife sightings in our yard in recent days.  First, we had a visit from a box turtle.  
The kids really loved him, and I had visions of placing him in a large glass tank and naming him Mr. Turtle to make up for the fact that I will never get my poor children a cat or dog.

Then I remembered that turtles can carry salmonella, and they live to be about 300 years old, so I nixed the pet idea.  The kids enjoyed following him around the yard for a while.  Then they all took a walk around the block to return him to the creek.  (That was after I talked Cody out of just tossing the poor thing over our back fence which is a 15 foot drop into the creek.)

Later that day, Cody saw a snake.  A friendly snake, he claims.  As if there is such a thing...

Then today while mowing the yard, Cody discovered a duck nest.  It must be very recent because it is in a part of our backyard we play in often.  In fact, I am concerned now about keeping away from it for 28 days so the ducklings can hatch.

The next photo shows what happens when an eager photographer gets a little too close to the nest...
There are about 8 eggs in the nest.

Mama and Daddy duck waited impatiently in our neighbor's yard while we finished poking around and showing the kids (from a distance) the nest.

Maybe I'll have some duckling photos in about 28 days.