Ducks
Last week it was all about the ducks. Last Sunday, Shawn and I took our doggies for a walk down by the little concrete canal we have here, where ducks and geese cavort and frolic and the willow trees hang down over the water. If you ignore the apartment complexes stacked along either side, it can be quite pretty, especially in the evening. At some point during our walk, Dougal had picked something up off the ground and was playing with it in his mouth. It was dark and I couldn?t see what it was, so I had him drop it and then tied him to a tree. I went back to investigate, using my lighter for light, and found a tiny duckling writhing around on the ground with its neck broken and the back of its head missing. Aside from feeling horrified and guilty, I was thinking of a way to humanely end its suffering when it died there in front of me. I walked back a few paces, and saw several other ducklings all running off into the darkness, and one lying in the dirt and not moving. The duckling was still alive, and it wasn't bleeding anywhere. But it would not move. We had no idea what to do, so we left it there and came home to try to figure it out.



Naturally, these things always happen late on Sunday nights, when all the wildlife and rescue organizations are closed. We did some research online, and it seemed that best course was to go back and see if the duckling had left or if its mother had come back for it. We went back, and it was still where we left it, and hadn?t moved at all. None of its little friends were there either, and there wasn?t a duck in sight. I felt so awful for the little guy. We put him in a shoe box and brought him home (following instructions from a wildlife rescue website) and put towels warmed in the microwave around the box, so we could drop him off at a wildlife rehabilitation center the next day. But, alas, the duckling was dead by morning. It was very sad, he was very cute.



The next day, two full grown ducks, a male and female pair, took up residence in our swimming pool. It was very funny to see them swimming around in there, and after the winter, the pool looked enough like a pond that they seemed right at home. I chased them off with a pool skimmer, but they kept coming back. I was waiting for Dougal to dive in after them, but after having fallen into the pool two and a half times before (the last time, only his hindquarters hit the water), he seemed to have had enough. After a day or two they flew away, and we haven?t seen them since. You have to wonder if they somehow knew about the duckling. Weird.