Wood Duck Rescue
A trip to High Park in Toronto becomes an inadvertent rescue effort when a group of wood duck ducklings are caught in a storm drain.
EPISODE NOTES
TRANSCRIPT
So I recently took a trip to High Park in Toronto. I was there to grab a few shots of manicured gardens for an episode on Mute Swans, but I figured I’d wander the length of Grenadier Pond while I was there. And it reminded me just how serendipitous these trips can become.
At the shore of the pond I got to see a snapping turtle return to the water after laying her eggs. And then at a storm overflow drain, I wound up in an impromptu rescue effort.
A wood duck mom had somehow gotten down into the overflow basin with her ducklings. She could get back out again but they were having much more trouble.
Three other people had already made a ramp with a plastic lid and a towel baited with birdseed, hoping the ducklings would take the hint. And after a few tries, most of them actually did. But there were still three stuck down there and it seemed like their mom couldn’t hear their cries over the running water so she and the ducklings who got out went back to the other side of the drain, and we had to figure out what to do.
Eventually we went down into the basin to try and herd them up onto the ramp, but that didn’t work, and after a lot of failed schemes and plans I wound up just having to - delicately, softly, carefully - catch them with my bare hands, one by one. Which was not easy. But which was somehow still the easiest way. This expression kind of says it all.
My expression is saying ‘I am very happy to be doing this but this duck is also actively pooping in my hand.’
Anyway, we released them one by one on the other side to dash safely back to their mom. And hopefully not get nabbed by a red-tailed hawk in the next ten minutes…