Would You Rather Be a Duck?

Ducks are talented little creatures. They can fly, swim and walk on two feet. They are very social animals and suffer if they don’t have companionship. When they are raised by a human they often begin to think they are one. Ducks are close relations of geese and swans. Some interesting facts are: they have three eyelids, their webbed feet have no nerves or blood vessels so they never have cold feet, some ducks can fly 332 miles per day and they line their nests with feathers plucked from their chest. Ouch!

Our local park is the home of many species that spend their summers with us. We sometimes have geese dropping by and I once took a picture of a pelican that was evidently left behind when his group flew off. Last June we had our very own “octomom", as seen in the top photo. My grandson and I watched the little ones grow all summer. The lower picture is of four ducks who guarded the mom and babies.

There are a number of famous ducks. Disney must have loved them because his flock included Donald, Daisy, Hewey, Dewey, Lewey, Scrooge Mc Duck and Daffy Duck.
Then of course, there is the AFLAC duck, disco duck, the “You Bet Your Life” duck, who revealed the secret word for Groucho Marx and won contestants $100. Count Duckula began his career on British TV in 1988 before coming to the US. Long before that was Hans Christian Anderson’s Ugly Duckling in 1843 who grew up to be a swan.

Just for fun I found this poem for your enjoyment.

Ducks
Ducks are lucky don’t you think?
When they want to take a drink
All they do is duck their bill,
Doesn’t matter if they spill.
When they want to take a swim
All they do is dive right in;
And they never seem to sink.
Ducks are lucky don’t you think?
~Mary Ann Hoberman