Last night toward the end of our walk I saw the ducks and ducklings. As we got closer to them I could see they were hanging out in the parking spaces by the entrance to our neighborhood. I could only see 4 ducklings, so I assumed the rest had left for life on their own. (I know nothing about how long ducklings stay with their momma.) We walked past them and I saw them heading toward the pond, and one by one the ducklings dropped through the drainage grate into the drainage ditch. I was devastated. The ducklings were quacking. The mama duck was walking around lost quacking for her babies. It was awful.
I went inside the house and told Ty all about it. Being the kind man he is, he volunteered to walk down there and check things out. I don't think he was very confident about actually rescuing them. After some investigating, he realized he could lift the grate up and use a net to scoop them out. Thankfully, we have some nets in our attic from "crab hunting" on beach vacations.
Our neighbor volunteered to help Ty and luckily Ty has long arms and was able to save all 10-12 ducklings! I guess that is why I only saw four on our walk. The others had fallen in earlier in the day.
The momma duck was so happy to have her babies back!
I snapped pictures on my phone while holding Jack. Not the best quality, but I couldn't miss out on the opportunity to capture the moment.
The sad momma duck wandering around quacking for her babies.
Lifting the heavy grates
scooping out the babies
freedom!
Reunited and heading toward the pond!
The momma duck took off swimming in the pond with only half of her babies. Ty released the others into the pond and they swam after her.
That man of mine. He is a good egg.
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