Nine Balls of Cuteness, and they Whistle too

This past weekend at the local wetlands, I noticed the black-bellied whistling ducks had a batch of ducklings hatch recently - the parents were cruising around with the babies in tow, until they got spooked...then all the babies lined up against mom's side while dad flew around in circles whistling and calling alert looking for any problems (he found none and eventually settled back down).

All shots with my Sony A6300 and FE70-300mm G OSS lens combo:

Closeup of some of the cute fluffballs - the black-bellied whistling ducklings have an adorable striped pattern:


ALERT! All the ducklings lined up and faced mom like some sort of school drill:


Dad flying around in circles - flying over me a few times just to make sure I wasn't a threat:


Another pass:


Staying at mom's side:


Dad was on his way back for a landing as mom looked over to check if all was OK:

 

We have lots of them down here - they're regulars in the tip of FL and the south tip of TX. Obviously we have lots...and now lots more, with this brood - and there were at lesat 2 other families of them over the past few months in my two local wetlands, each around 8-12 ducklings per nest. They've long been one of my favorite ducks - because of the colors, the strange out-of-proportion bodies (big legs & feet and heads, small bodies), and that cool whistle-call.

Many thanks John & Howie.