True Duck Story from San Antonio, Texas
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Photos and Story Snatched from
Cyberspace
(Submitted by Jack Binch)
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Something
really cute happened in downtown San Antonio this week. Michael R.
is an accounting clerk at Frost Bank and works there in a second
story office. Several weeks ago, he watched a mother duck choose
the concrete awning outside his window as the unlikely place to
build a nest above the sidewalk. The mallard laid ten eggs in a
nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 10 feet in
the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks, and Monday
afternoon all of her ten ducklings hatched.
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Michael worried all night how the momma duck
was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy,
downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically
happens in the first 48 hours of a duck hatching.
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Tuesday morning, Michael watched the mother
duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch with the intent
to show them how to jump off. Office work came to a standstill as
everyone gathered to watch.
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The mother flew down below and started quacking to
her babies above. In disbelief Michael watched as the first fuzzy
newborn trustingly toddled to the edge and astonishingly leapt into
thin air, crashing onto the cement below. Michael couldn't stand to
watch this risky effort nine more times! He dashed out of his office
and ran down the stairs to the sidewalk where the first obedient
duckling, near its mother, was resting in a stupor after the
near-fatal fall. Michael stood out of sight under the
awning-planter, ready to help.
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As the second one took the plunge, Michael jumped
forward and caught it with his bare hands before it hit the
concrete. Safe and sound, he set it down it by its momma and the
other stunned sibling, still recovering from that painful leap. (The
momma must have sensed that Michael was trying to help her babies.)
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One by one the babies continued to jump.. Each time
Michael hid under the awning just to reach out in the nick of time
as the duckling made its free fall. At the scene the busy downtown
sidewalk traffic came to a standstill.. Time after time, Michael was
able to catch the remaining eight and set them by their approving
mother.
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At this point Michael realized the duck family had
only made part of its dangerous journey. They had two full blocks to
walk across traffic, crosswalks, curbs and past pedestrians to get
to the closest open water, the San Antonio River , site of the famed
"River Walk." The on looking office secretaries and several San
Antonio police officers joined in. An empty copy-paper box was
brought to collect the babies. They carefully corralled them, with
the mother's approval, and loaded them in the container.. Michael
held the box low enough for the mom to see her brood. He then slowly
navigated through the downtown streets toward the San Antonio River
. The mother waddled behind and kept her babies in sight, all the
way.
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As they reached the river, the mother took over and
passed him, jumping in the river and quacking loudly. At the water's
edge, Michael tipped the box and helped shepherd the babies toward
the water and to the waiting mother after their adventurous ride.
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All ten darling ducklings safely made it into the
water and paddled up snugly to momma. Michael said the mom swam in
circles, looking back toward the beaming bank bookkeeper, and
proudly quacking.
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At last, all present and accounted for: "We're all
together again. We're here! We're here!"
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And here's a family portrait before they head
outward to further adventures... Like all of us
in the big times of our life, they never could have made it alone
without lots of helping hands. I think it gives the name of San
Antonio 's famous "River Walk" a whole new meaning!
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