Thirty-four days. Our wood duck hen sat for thirty-four days. We were losing hope, afraid the freeze back in March did it. On Sunday morning I got a text from a bayou neighbor, “Today is jump day for one of our houses!”
“Our duck has been sitting for 34 days. No hatching yet. I’m not sure we should keep waiting.”
“Mine sat for longer than usual.”
So I flipped over to our RIng app. Did I hear cheeping? Mother hen was eating a shell. They were hatching!
You probably want to know how many, but it’s nearly impossible to count when they are little blurry black blobs wiggling.
Monday was Jump Day. It was also a school/work day. We had to rely on the camera. Jeff set up a new Ring camera outside of the house in order to record the jump. Around 10:00, I checked the cameras. Gone. All the ducks had jumped. I missed it, but the camera did not.
As I showed the video to my student, Avalyn, she named the little ducklings. “Come on, Tiffany, you can do it!” she urged as one of the babies hesitated to jump. Avalyn also wrote a poem-song (impromptu) to celebrate Jump Day!
Wood duck, wood duck
Avalyn, 2nd grade
open your shell.
Come out, come out, come out now!
Little duck, little duck,
quack with your snout.
Little duck little duck, little duck
don’t you frown
Come play in the bayou
and make no sound.
Reflections on the Teche 
Love this post! I was delighted to learn about Jump Day, and Avalyn’s song-poem reminded me of one of my son’s favorite childhood books, found discarded in a second-hand pile—Wesley Dennis’ 1951, Flip In the Morning, in which the adventurous little foal finds the wood duck, “just as beautiful as Willie had said.”
Thank heavens for technology! I loved the anticipation you built in this slice and really thought it might have been a missed technology moment. thus, I loved the positive ending!
Margaret, I am fascinated by these ducks and love watching them jump. I’m so glad your camera caught this. It’s just positively heartwarming.
That is just the best news, how exciting for you and what a delightful poem-song!
Hooray for Avalyn the poet, and for wood ducks jumping. Jump Day should be a holiday, don’t you think?
This is so exciting! Yay, to Avalyn and her great poem! Yay, to mama wood duck and ducklings! I have never seen or heard of jump day. What a thrill your whole post, video, and Avalyn’s poem are. My children and I used to see baby mallard ducklings swimming with their mothers after they hatched in a nest in grass and weeds. Therefore, jumping from such a high level is new to me. Wildlife and all their differences are fascinating. Thank you for sharing joy, excitement, and inspiration.