Saratoga Creek – City of Santa Clara Central Park

Saratoga Creek flows from the Santa Cruz Mountains, about 12 miles south of here, and on into the San Francisco Bay at its most southern tip, about 5 miles north of here. The creek runs through Santa Clara Central Park, and because we’ve had plenty of rain this winter & early spring there’s water flowing in it. Soon it will be mostly rock & gravel until next November or so. The banks of the creek are terraced because for many years any heavy rain eroded the them. It’s about 3 o’clock in the afternoon here, on the way home from the Central Park library.

This shot is with a basic 18mm – 55mm lens, and from ~30 feet above Uncle Duck & the New Duckies’ Family. They are on the south side of the North Bridge, heading north and just about to pass beneath the bridge. Mom is either drinking or looking for food, so that’s why she’s more difficult to see than Uncle & Father Duck. Of course, she’s also more difficult to see because in their world, the males are more colorful so that they are more easily seen and therefore attract the attention of predators in order to save the mom & babies from them. However, she does get a small stripe – or one on each side – of iridescent blue that you can just see here.

The family has just passed beneath the North Bridge, heading south along the west bank of the creek. You’ll just need to trust that there indeed are 10 babies in this photo. Again, Mom blends in so well with her surrounds – especially here, in shadow – that you could imagine she is still under the bridge.

This photo shows the family back north of the bridge. They would swim south against the stream for a while, and then float back north to the spot in the photo above where you first see them. Again, because the standard lens on the camera is limited in its distance range, some of the kids appear to be missing. In fact, there were several times during the shooting when I was certain that at least one had become separated from the others. On looking closer – and over a longer period of time, however, all ten were always very close to Mom and one another.

Now they are south of the bridge and heading in the direction of the city of Saratoga, which is a good ways away. Google Maps says the distance – walking – is between 8 and 9 miles, depending on the streets taken; and the typical walking time time would be between 2.5 and 3.0 hours. What just comes to mind is a story, similar to Watership Down, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down] [you’ll need to cut & paste, I’m sure] in which this duck family, including Uncle Duck, must travel the creek all the way to Saratoga, experiencing many adventures & scary interludes along the way.

Given how they swim upstream, and then float back downstream to where they began swimming upstream, the story could cover the entire ‘childhood’ of the 10 ducklings.  Of course, maybe that story – or that novel – is already out there. If you know of one, I’m interested in hearing about it – and reading it.

Based on their position here, and in relation to the shadow of the tree branches, this shot is shortly after the one above, and they  stopped only momentarily. As the caption suggests I figured they were resting, but as the next photo shows, they may have stopped for a while to consider changing direction. But can animals consider anything; or is it simply instinct?

One definition, or more specifically, one ‘root’ or ‘source’ of the word is, “to observe the stars.” You can find out more at www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=consider. Please note that you’ll need to cut & paste this address, because I am still learning how to successfully use all of the ‘functions’ that WordPress offers.

Anyway, do animals “observe” the stars? Do we still do that? Other than astronomers, I mean. And you’d probably discover that they spend as much time, if not more, looking at computer screens & numbers, rather than the sky. Of course, a consideration more central to the original discussion is: “Can ducks even look UP?”

So after taking a rest on the west bank Mom is heading east here, with Father Duck in a location that I saw him take many times during the shoot. I presume he takes this somewhat distant position in order to defend the family before any possible threat to them could get close enough to cause them harm. But I’m just imagining what it would like to be a duck – a Dad Duck.

I became briefly distracted by someone crossing the bridge where I was shooting, and when I turned back toward where the ducks had been moments before, I saw only the creek, flowing, as the old saying goes, “homeward, to the sea.”

Which, thinking again as a duck, I presume the News Ducks’ Family, went: Home within the bushes & shrubs on the southeast bank of Saratoga Creek as its waters pass through the City of Santa Clara’s Central Park on the first day of April in 2011.