It’s the time that you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important…People have forgotten this truth, but you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The duck’s mouth is called a “bill”. Normally, it is broad and flat and has rows of fine notches along the edge called “lamellae”. The lamellae helps the duck to grip its food so that it will not slip off. However, ducks bills come in different shapes and sizes. The shape of the bill and body features will determine how the duck hunt for its food. Ducks which have broad beaks, sift their food for insects, snails and seeds from the mud. These are called the shovelers. The Northern Shoveler is an example.

Some ducks have long and narrow beaks. The narrow beaks are also covered will with saw-like edges which help them to grab fish. Sea ducks usually have this kind of beak. Sea ducks are also divers. Examples are the Mergansers, Eiders, Harlequins, Goldeneyes and Buffleheads. Soruce: KiddyHouse

Appreciation and compliments can make you feel good about yourself. Stay humble by simply thanking people for their kind words. But each time you receive a compliment or praise do not absorb it or dwell too much in it because all these may go to your head and you may lose interest in improving yourself as a leader.  ~Dr Anil Kumar Sinha

To live as equals with others requires a wide range of experience. The wise have much experience and fools have little. To gain experience, you need to go through good and bad times. How can you grow if your experiences are always the same? Anything that happens, good or bad, can be constructive in the end — as long as you learn something useful from it. So when you face difficulties, don’t feel too bad! ~ 17th Karmapa

Teaching What is Really Useful
Parents do seek to create a wonderful world for their children, but even more splendid is to give them explanations that increase their intelligence and ability to discriminate right from wrong. In Buddhism, we speak of what is to be given up and what is to be taken up. According to the Dharma, what is most difficult to give up, even if we try very hard, is our ego-fixation, this grasping on to “I”. Therefore, we are guiding our children in the wrong direction if we encourage their self-centeredness. We should teach them what is really useful. ~ 17th Karmapa

To be successful, don’t strive to get everything you want from the world. Instead, give the world everything you have. ~Alexander Den Heijer

A clever person solves a problem no one can solve. A genius solves a problem no one can see. ~Alexander Den Heijer

All ducks have highly waterproof feathers as a result of an intricate feather structure and a waxy coating that is spread on each feather while preening. A duck’s feathers are so waterproof that even when the duck dives underwater, its downy underlayer of feathers will stay completely dry.

Ducks are precocial, which means that ducklings are covered with down and able to walk and leave the nest just a few hours after hatching.

A hen will lead her ducklings up to a half mile or more over land after hatching in order to find a suitable water source for swimming and feeding.

By Melissa Mayntz, Birding/Wild Birds Expert