Bag of ducklings

Not sure where to start this post -- with my friend, Erin's phone call or my overwhelming craving to hold baby animals.

Living by the park, I get to see ducklings every spring, and I never get sick of it. Erin called me this afternoon telling me that her and Ryan took the kids to the park, and had saved a duckling from being drowned by some adult ducks. While they had saved it from eminent death, now they didn't know what to do with it. I threw on my flip flops, grabbed a net and a canvas bag, and practically ran over there.

When I got there, it turned out that there were more ducklings in peril. There were nine ducklings total without a mother in sight. So Ryan began attempting to catch them with the net.

Although they were so small that they were getting swept up my the current of the small stream, they were wily in the water, and not easy to catch without getting in the water. So we ran up and down the bank as they swam up and down, from one side of the to other. We had the kids go try to scare them to the side we were on, but they were very good at staying right out of reach. I even crawled on my belly, and got three in one scoop.

As we caught the ducklings, we put the them in the bag I brought. Believe it or not, they seemed pretty happy in the bag. After frantically swimming away from crazy people with nets, the ducklings cuddled up with each other and fell asleep.

We knew they were too little to be without a mom, but we weren't sure if what we were doing was right. Was it illegal to take them? Would their mother be back? Would they be fine on there own?

We decided to call the Tracey Aviary, who gave us the number of a bird rehab lady, who not only told us that not only would she take them, but they would die that night if left on their own.

With a renewed sense of purpose and only one very difficult duckling left, Ryan, the mighty hunter, got into the water.

With Ryan a little soggy and a bag full of ducks, we headed back to my house. Owen was nice enough to make a little coral with boxes in the backyard, complete with a dog dish pool. Further proof that ducks liked their bag, when I placed them on the grass, most of them just stayed cuddled up in it.

Then we got to fulfill my baby animal dreams and just played with the tiny, adorable, fluffy ducklings in my sunny backyard for awhile. Although I was having so much fun, I felt something was missing.

Can't explain why I wanted ducks in my bathtub but I did. Although he thinks I am nuts, Owen filled up the tub and we let them swim around for awhile.

The kids kept asking to keep one (and I really wanted to also), but the ducklings had needed to go to those who knew how to raise them. We ended up taking them to the Ogden Nature Center (the duck rehab lady lived an hour away).

We did stop at my friend Nichole's house to spread around the joy that only ducklings can bring. At her house we also filled up her sink and let them swim around -- see, it's not just me.

Everyone at the nature center was very nice, but they kind of laughed when I brought in the bag full of ducks. I explained that they really did like it.

So what started with an almost drowning has a happy ending -- and my canvas bag will mostly likely be referred to as the duck bag from now on.