Trail camera captures newly hatched ducklings ‘raining’ down from above in Minnesota

A trail camera in the Minnesota woods captured ducklings “raining” from above, plopping down onto leaves and greenery like fluffy, oversize acorns, video shows.

It’s difficult to tell what’s happening at first. A female wood duck is seen walking around the forest floor when something suddenly drops onto the ground, video shared Aug. 7 by Minnesota Fish & Wildlife shows.

And then there’s another flash of movement. Then two or three more blobs fall to the ground at once, followed by another group, and suddenly the mother duck is surrounded by a whole troop of ducklings, video shows.

Despite hitting the dirt pretty hard, each of the little ducks pops back up, apparently unharmed, video shows.

It might look like irresponsible parenting, but this awkward ritual is just the way wood ducks do things, according to wildlife experts.

“Wood ducks nest in hollow trees and when the eggs hatch, the ducklings must jump to join their mother on the journey to the pond,” Minnesota wildlife officials said.

Ducklings are typically just one day old when they make that leap, according to the National Wildlife Federation, though some late bloomers might not leave the nest for several days.

Wood duck nests can be up to 65 feet in the air, and still the eager ducklings will line up to jump out, according to the NWF.

But don’t worry too much, “they are so light that the fall doesn’t harm the little ducklings,” the organization said.

Minnesota wildlife officials will be keeping tabs on this mother duck and her ducklings, according to the post.

“The wood duck hen featured in this video is outfitted with telemetry equipment so we can find her and her ducklings for research purposes,” the post said.