Ah, yes, the baby ducks...
I have a good baby duck story for you.
Where I lived in Hercules, CA had a duck pond in central park, which was walking distance from my house. (I used to take the birds there after work sometimes.) So, everyone in the neighborhood knew I had parrots, as mine were out and about all the time...
So, I get home from work, and my neighbors were hanging out in front of my house. And I'm greeted with "Oh, good, you're home. Your duck got out." And it's been running around frantic in front of your house. We didn't know what to do."
"My duck?! I don't have a duck."
SURE ENOUGH there was a big white duck running around in front of my house, and it appeared to be losing it's mind...
Okay, what's up with that? So I hear baby bird noises, and I go over and look down the storm drain. There are four or five baby ducks all cuddled up. Mama duck apparently had big enough feet to make it across the grate, but all her babies had fallen in... and she couldn't get them out!
WELL, THE FIRST THOUGHT THAT CROSSED MY MIND, WAS WHY AM I THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD WHO THOUGHT TO INVESTIGATE THE FRIGGIN' CHIRPING NOISES... ?! I mean come on... that's kind of a clue!
My second thought was how do we get them out of there...
Well, the minute I started messing with the babies, Moma duck starts being an even greater pain in the butt, and starts getting attacky... I had to drive her off, and after a couple of attempts at threatening her, she finally flew back to the duck pond.
I essentially took an old nutriberry bucket, cut it down to the point where it would fit into the storm drain, and duck taped the end of it to a stick, and used it as a scooper, to scoop them out. Oddly enough, the little baby ducks lined up single file, and marched right on to the scooper... unlike mama they figured out I was trying to help them.
We transferred them into another nutriberry bucket, with a lid that had holes in it, so they stayed put... (I always wondered why I was saving those things.) And I drove them back down to the duck pond. I was worried about how I would find their mother, and what I was going to do with them if I didn't.
I took the bucket to the edge of the pond and they cued up again, and marched out in single file calling for Momma... who immediately came rushing over to claim them. She seemed to checked every feather on each one, then they lined up single file behind her, and marched off into the water.
That was one of those "Kodak moments."
