Help! I hate to be all movie-of-the-week worried about the ducklings growing up in the ever-shrinking and increasingly scummy pond here in the Cove, but I visited them yesterday and things look iffy.

You can see why the ducks mated and nested here - the pond looked fine at first. But the tides have been low so no new water is coming in, and what's left has turned stagnant. The water is vanishing, seeping into the sand, I suppose, and evaporating. It's a strange, dark color, and has grown a greenish scum on top.

The ducks, meanwhile, sit on a rusty metal box most of the day. No swimming at all. So how long until the ducklings can leave this place? Are they going to make it? Our LA Observed email isn't working at the moment, so if you really do know about birds, you can reach me at " vdt90265 [at] yahoo dot com ".