Holding steady

After the initial die-back, the ducklings seem to have stabilised now. We've still got seven in the quad, all from the same family. And they're getting quite big now. Dare I hope that they'll make it to early adulthood? I'm not sure what's different this year, but the fact that there's only a single duck family in the quad might be significant. Perhaps the absence of competition, which I understand can include intra-specific killing, is allowing a greater population to persist? Or perhaps I'm just reading too much into: (a) statistically small population sizes; and (b) two seasons worth of data?