young ducks

[ellenkushner]

It's early autumn. My heroine has been sent to the country, to a place that sure sounds like Normandy to me (lots of apple trees & streams & fields). Here's what I wrote a long time ago:

So I followed the stream into the woods instead, and found a little waterfall and a blackberry thicket with plenty of berries left, and a nest of young ducks (? well something more seasonal anyway).

Are ducks still young in early autumn? I just liked the way the words sounded, and the image - but if I'm about to make a fool of myself to people who know about ducks, can you suggest something else?

(NO ONE in my very erudite writer's group has taken up the challenge - various copies of the page have remained suspiciously pristine, despite my piteous little note in the text. I mean, if they knew the ducks were all right they would have said so, right??)

Comments

[crowyhead.livejournal.com]

I think most ducks are almost full-grown in early autumn, since a lot of ducks migrate during the winter and the young ones would have to be able to fly along. That's my slightly educated opinion.

You could change it to adolescent deer, or just regular ducks, or something like that... :)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Did adolescent deer in my *last* novel ;)