Make Way... for DUCKLINGS!

No, this isn't a book review, although that's an excellent book if you have time to read it to your children. This is, in fact, about real, live, in our house ducklings.

Last night, while working at the temple, we were informed that sometime during the night we might need to do some "duck relocation". A mother duck and her 11 ducklings had decided to make the reflecting pool at the temple her home. There are just a couple of things wrong with that:

1. Coyotes. They live around the temple and, because the city won't do anything about them (something about "habitat"), they aren't afraid of people anymore. AND, they're fond of duck. Since the reflecting pool is a favorite photography spot for brides and grooms, it was determined that they need to move.


2. Chemicals. I'm not a fan of chemicals in my water, and I don't imagine that the ducklings were either...


3. Lack of food... another of those essentials. Mommy Duck might have been able to find food, but babies were not doing as well in that department.


4. Add in there the little fountains that are inside the reflecting pool that the little ducklings couldn't get past, and all the little places for them to get stuck, and it just adds up to not a good place for ducks. Not to mention the poo factor. Who wants to have poo on their wedding dress?????

So... it was determined that they needed to be relocated. Since we have a farm (no, we have no pond), and there are other people in this area that have ponds that would LOVE to have ducks (no, I didn't ask, but if you're floating fake ducks in your pond to attract the real ones, that's a pretty good indicator), I volunteered to take them home. That also meant being part of the capture team.

At 2:30 this morning, we went outside to capture the ducks. We'd already put the ducklings into a box (no, they weren't quackers in the box for the coyotes...) hoping that Mom would just join them... no such luck. Instead, she was sitting on the ledge waiting. And the sprinklers were giving all of the ducks a cold little shower. Ducklings moved to a smaller, drier box, and the hunt for the Mom was on. An HOUR AND A HALF later... Ducklings said goodbye to Mom (yes, I know it's sad. But it would be much sadder to have the coyotes eat them...), and our girls woke up to 11 new pets. They're having a grand time swimming in the bathtub (we shower anyway), and all of the children are loving seeing them. Some more than others. (They started out by swimming in the sink, but when I needed to sanitize it to do the dishes, I moved them to a larger location.)