This is a sad little sight here.

You can not see the third duck in this picture, but he is there.  See the white one? That is the Runner duck. The black duck is just that, a black and white duck.  But if you look very carefully on the left side down toward the tail on the Runner duck, you can see a little gray bump.  That is the Mallard.  Now this Mallard had a history, I am here to tell you.  First I want to give you a bit of background.  When Bret was 7 years old I had a friend, Steven Flowers, who lived and worked up in the mountains on a working ranch.  He had a duck who had babies.  Bret was dinging me about baby ducks so Steven brought me 4 of them.  They were Polanders, which is the domestic version of a Mallard.  Rather then explain all this, I just call them Mallards. 
Quickly my flock grew to 8.  Then some one in Colorado Springs needed to get rid of 13 ducks.  That is where the Black and White ones came from.  Then Bret wanted geese so I bought 3 of them.  Two ganders and one hen.  Then the two ganders died, one at the hands or rather wings of  a mean Muscovy Drake and the other to a neurological disorder culminating in the neighbor man wringing its neck.  Then Bret got tired of everything feathered and guess what!  So did Lyn.  At this time I had 1 female African Gray goose and 21 ducks.  Lyn brought me 6 geese and 6 ducks.  Then the geese reproduced and I ended up with 9 geese. Then the ducks came through again and the grand total last summer stood at 36 ducks and 9 geese.  Then the foxes came to call. By mid summer I was at 23 ducks and then we had 3 baby geese.  We wintered over with the 23 ducks dwindling to 15. Geese stayed at 12.  This Spring the foxes  became a real problem.  I watched my flock dwindle by 3 and 4 a week until at last I knew where this was headed.  There were 3 ducks left when I took this picture.  The next morning there were just the two.  The Runner and the Mallard. I called Lyn and Tim and they took the last 2 ducks to Pueblo West.  Now I have none.  What had been so much enjoyment for 12 years was now a memory.  I have seen the foxes over a period of time this Spring.  One gray, one small gray and one very big and beautiful Red Fox.  And while I sat here wringing my hands and watching my little friends being picked off,  I did not realize I had a very good friend across the field that was helping me out.  I learned just the other day that a man behind me who shall remain nameless had shot 7 foxes this season.  Can you imagine how fast the ducks would have disappeared if he had not been on guard?  I want to thank him for his dilegence.
Now, I still have 12 geese.  After the ducks were gone I heard a terrible noise out back.  The dogs and I ran out the door as did Amanda and the neighbor man.  My 12 geese were huddled at the end of the garden and when they saw me they came toward me and were jabbering away.  I do not understand what they were saying but as this plays out I think I can figure it out.  I think the fox hopped over the fence thinking he would have supper and the geese can be very loud and intimidating.  I think he decided the free meals here at my house were over. I sure hope so.  I know it is too late for the ducks, but I got a couple geese setting.  I do not know if you realize just how vigilant a goose is in guarding it's eggs, and it's babies, but I would not want to cross a mother goose under any conditions, and the ganders are worse! 
So while I will miss my helpless little ducks and mourn their loss I shall carry on with the goose population.  I do not think I will keep geese much longer and when Goosie, who is the lone female that I started with many years ago, is too old to go on living I will take the whole lot of them to the sale barn and just let the weeds grow rampant on the back acre.  It was a fun ride while it lasted.