Published: May 10, 2008 07:46 pm            

A Mother’s Day (Duck)Tail

Baby ducks in peril saved by local citizens — and Momma Duck

Here’s a Mother’s Day story that just might “quack” you up:

Workers at Monticello Banking Company on South U.S. 27 were greeted by a wild mallard duck and her baby ducklings in the bank’s parking lot one recent morning.

Apparently, Momma Duck — as Mommas sometimes do — wanted to take her babies for a little stroll.

Momma Duck had lots of little heads to count. The bank workers believe she had 10 or 12 babies in tow.

Momma Duck was doing her best to watch over her little fuzzy flock. But sometimes baby ducklings — as babies sometimes do — have a way of finding trouble.

Before she had time to quack out a warning, all of Momma’s babies had waddled over to a water drain near the bank — and each and every one of the little ducklings fell through the drain cover to the dark ground below.

The bank workers noticed Momma Duck circling the drain — appearing rather worried. The workers also noticed that the baby ducks were nowhere to be seen.

So the workers went outside to investigate.

“We looked down in the drain, and all of the babies were down there,” said bank employee Matt Price.

“We tried to get the top lid off, but it would not come off for us.”

One of the employees retrieved a “trash picker-upper” to try to fish the babies out of the drain, Price said.

“But that did not work,” he added.

Some construction workers nearby loaned the bank employees a small crowbar.

“But we still could not get the lid off the drain,” Price lamented.

Meanwhile, Momma Duck was frantic — distrusting of the humans who were hovering around her brood.

Finally, the bank employees called 911.

Steve Hyden and Paul White of the City of Somerset’s Street and Sanitation Department were beckoned to the scene.

“We get calls like that from time to time — cats or dogs stuck in a drain,” Hyden said.

Usually, Steve Cook, the county’s animal control officer, is called to help rescue animals whose curiosity has gotten the best of them — and this case was no different.

But sometimes things have a way of taking care of themselves — and most times, Mommas have a way of making everything all better for their babies.

So — while all the humans were waiting for Mr. Cook to arrive — things took care of themselves.

Just as the street department employees were removing the drain cover, “a loud truck came by and scared the Momma Duck over a hill behind the bank,” Hyden said.

Momma Duck just happened to scare herself all the way over to the other side of the drain — about 50 feet away, where the water flows into a creek.

The baby ducklings — as babies will sometimes do — heard their mother’s panicked quacks, and followed her voice to safety.

“Next thing you know, the men noticed that the Momma had all of the baby ducks following her down the bank,” Price said.

“So, really, she got them out herself,” Hyden added.

“Momma saved the day. She’s the real hero.”

Momma and her babies waddled through a field to a nearby pond.

“They must have decided they weren’t cut out for the city life,” Price said.

        

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