duck families

I'm looking forward to my morning walks this Spring, and this season's new baby ducks. Last year I was watching two groups, two families with 4 ducklings each, wandering around nibbling on the ground. As the two groups sort of merged, the little guys moving around here and there without a care in the world, the parents were watching them, and me. A duckling from one group ended up with the other family, and that family started moving off in another direction. I heard a sound come from the second family. The little duckling's head popped up, and it scooted back to it's own group.

Walking along the same area a few days later, I noticed there was one family with 5 ducklings, and the other family had 3 ducklings. Later on, I came across the same two groups I think, at two different places along the river, and one family had 6 ducklings and the other one had 2 ducklings.