A little history about the three mallards. Spring of 2007 the female laid an egg in the monkey grass under the pecan tree, she never sat on it, so it never hatched. Early 2008 the three started coming back to my yard early every morning.. I started feeding them. Then they started flying in in the late afternoon, so I would feed them again. On my way home in the evening I would drive by the pond where they would nest at night, and I swear they flew in home behind me. If I didn't feed them immediately on arriving at home, they would waddle and quack and get on my porch. They left me in the fall and I hope they will return again in the spring.