A mother’s bond

I had a realization this morning: nothing is stronger than a mother’s bond. I (re-)discovered this earlier today when Chris called (he snapped the picture) to let me know that one of our new ducklings in the neighborhood had fallen into the storm drain in our street.

After thinking like MacGyver, I created a net using a incense stick, a can of silly string and some duct tape (actually it was a coathanger, some netting and duct tape), and headed to the drain. I also took some bread and water down just in case. After feeding the little one I attempted to capture it with the net, however the little guy (I think it was a girl duck by it’s coloring) decided that she wanted to stay there (or she was frightened by this huge white thing).

Finally, momma duck and the other ducklings headed back up towards the drain, and after some coaxing of momma duck to make a noise, the little stuck duck started chirping constantly. Momma duck knew that the little one was there, but couldn’t quite figure out where. Momma duck (and ducklings) wandered across the road, and as they did, the little one become visible, and I snatched her up with the net. Little duck was not happy at this, however as I got closer to momma duck to release her, I actually felt the excitement of the little duck. When I put her on the ground, she took off towards momma real fast. As momma duck quacked, I took that to mean thanks (of course, it could have also meant get the hell away from me). Naturally as I walked the ducks back to the pond, I spent the next few minutes chatting with the ducks explaining the dangers of storm drains. I think they understood.