On Flock Friday this week, we’re visited by a heron a couple of times, a second nesting duck, and more.

Firstly, a couple of chickens in the new coop, one emerging from a nesting box:

An animated GIF of a heron landing on the pond island:

Ducks on the lawn:

Chickens in their run, and ducks on the lawn:

We evicted the chickens from the veggie garden, and closed the gate into their run:

Another GIF of the heron, this time flying from the island to the edge of the pond in front of the camera:

A GIF of Betty arriving back in the duck house after taking a brief break, drying herself off, then heading to her nest, and Sonja going to hers:

Lots of finches on the bird feeders:

Betty on her nest, and Sonja laying an egg on hers; not on it full-time as of this date:

Chickens with treats:

Ducks in the pond:

A nice circle of eggs in Sonja’s nest; about nine there:

Ducks on islands:

This morning Sonja seems to have started sitting on her nest full-time, like Betty is — we’ll see if she stays there, or is just spending a longer-than-usual time (apparently common to gradually increase the nesting time):

Here she’s pulling some straw into the nest:

The ducklings hatch in about 28 days from full-time nesting, so Betty’s are expected within the next week, and Sonja’s will be around June 11. When they hatch, I’ll be sure to do a special post with the news.