THE GREAT DUCKLING ADVENTURE

THE GREAT DUCKLING ADVENTURE:
16 LITTLE RIPPLES ON THE LAKE & 1 BIG QUACKER

Thursday, April 23, 2020, Stay-at-Home Order in place. We (Bob and Carolyn) were at the Haller Lake P-Patch checking on our plot (agricultural activities are considered essential…). We noticed a neighbor walking down 1st Avenue NE gesturing oddly. She solicited our help to herd a mother mallard and her sixteen tiny ducklings to Haller Lake, half-a-mile away (!!).

She had first encountered them near 133rd Street. How to herd a family of ducks? Well, at first we surrounded them and tried to encourage them to walk south down the sidewalk. Mother Mallard let us get quite close – she didn't want to leave her tiny ducklings. They peeped loudly and she quacked in encouragement.

Nearing the corner of busy 130th Street, we decided that it would be difficult to herd the ducks across the intersection. Bob got a bucket from the P-Patch shed, and he and the neighbor nudged the ducklings into the bucket. Mother Mallard quacked louder. She fled into nearby bushes and we had to encourage her to come out by showing her the peeping bucket. Bob and bucket headed south toward the intersection, followed by Mama and the "herders." We pushed the "walk" button and waited anxiously. The light changed and the parade crossed the intersection.

We wondered how many people were curious about the man and the bucket, the duck, and the two women behind. Safely across the intersection, a man in his front yard inquired, "Is that your duck??" We turned west on 128th, where a block away we encountered several people and a dog, all of whom practiced "social distancing" as they watched us pass. Bob walks quite fast, and the duck was waddling to keep up.

Finally, we turned south on Meridian – Haller Lake was in sight. Bob made his way through the blackberry bushes while Mama Mallard took a drainage channel – it seemed like she had been there before. She swam into the lake, quacking all the time. Bob tipped the bucket and the ducklings tumbled out and, peeping, swam directly to their mother. Then the reunited family swam away. Just another day in our wonderful Haller Lake neighborhood…

-Carolyn Crockett and Bob Brooks