We were working in the yard today. Suddenly, there was a huge
commotion in the back yard. Lots of birds and peeping. I went
to see what happened and found that my dogs had chased a
batch of ducklings under our deck. We have a fenced yard but
10 of the little guys came in and ran from the dogs. The dogs
were put away. We rounded the ducklings up and chased them
back towards the mother who was next door. I guess we weren't
fast enough for her because she went into the very back of our
property calling for her brood. There were 5 or 6 ducklings with
her. The 10 in our yard split up. 2 went to the mother, 5 went
to the front street and 3 went into my garage. We got the ones
out of the garage and put them in the back to be with their
mother. The rest were spread out all over the place. One got
trapped under a wood pile. My daughter rescued it and wanted
to keep it as a pet. It was let go, though. I am happy to report
that all have now been re-united with the mother.
We live 10 minutes south of Duncan, BC. 45 minutes north of
Victoria. My rescued animal tally over the years now includes 10 ducklings,
5 horses, 5 turkeys, 1 peacock and a large number of cats and
dogs. And about 10 very large toads! Country living, eh?

Well, we're in the city of Ottawa. The weekend before last there was a dragon boat race on the Rideau river. Loads of crowds, lots of traffic as event goers looked for somewhere to park. We were walking to the entrance of the park and sudeenly this lady ran out from the sidewalk into the middle of the traffic yelling for everyone to stop. We thought she'd flipped or seen her car being stolen or something. Then we realised there was a mother duck and about five ducklings emerging from a hedge, heading for the water, traffic or not. She (the mother duck) held up the traffic for a good five minutes as the whole family group waddled across the road, with the lady shepherding them and daring any driver to move. When they'd finally made it across the lady got a spontaneous round of applause from the pedestrians. No-one in the cars joined in.
For those who know Ottawa, this was by the falls at Hog's Back Park - you know what the traffic there can be like.

Karma to you!

Ah, great area!