muddy River 06/13/09, 3:00 p.m.

[urbpan]

Our block had a yard sale today. Right at the end of it we heard some "squeaky wheel" bird noises. I didn't think much of it until I looked across the street and saw a group of 8 baby ducks, huddled together on the sidewalk. There was no adult duck anywhere around, but there were lots of children and dogs. Alexis got them into a box, and I got on the phone trying to contact wildlife rehabbers and wildlife hospitals. I strongly suspect that some person "rescued" these ducks into orphan-hood, or found them near a road-killed mom, and dumped them near the river.

A neighbor and I looked around for the mother duck, dead or alive, but couldn't find anything: we knew there was a mom with a bunch of babies around (seen here) but they were a bit older than these. Finally we decided to try to force a merging of these two families (one of the rehabbers got back to me and said that wasn't a terrible idea). Long story short (too late!), we found the one family, let ours out of the box, and they immediately ran to each other.


The other chicks, about two weeks older than the whipper-snappers, were none too welcoming, and proceeded to shove the little ones around. Such are birds. Birds are jerks.


The arrangement may work, it may not. It's a better option than giving them to someone to raise more imprinted mallards. If the little ones make it, they will be tough customers.


Of the original 10 ducklings seen back in May, there are only 6 survivors. We added 8 to the brood. Good luck to the 14--we'll see how it works out.