grounded

these are the wing feathers of a mallard drake who had strolled through our yard twice a day with his mate since their joint arrival this spring. we had come to look forward to their early evening passeggiata, and made inane conversation with them as they wandered by. then one day, it was just mama duck walking toward us across the back yard. and the next day we discovered a pile of feathers next to the dock. in this season of so many losses, we took this one particularly hard.

mallard wing feathers