creek
Scoop Saturday: Family of Ducks
It’s not unusual for a mother with kids in tow to take a stroll through the library. Many bookworms fondly remember such childhood visits [but], it is unusual when that mother is a duck and she has five ducklings all following in a row as they march through a British university library. Employees at the University of Nottingham’s George Green Library were treated to just that sight recently after open doors let in more than a cool breeze. “It had been very hot that week, so we had left our doors open for some extra air movement,” Emma Halford-Busby said, according to Good News Network. Apparently, the duck walked in with her brood and they took a tour, “…walked around our atrium for a while, mom in front and ducklings in a line behind. Mom was totally calm and unflustered.”
A worker gently herded them toward the door and they marched back out again. “As they walked towards our other entrance, one of our staff gently ushered them through the gates and back outside,” Halford-Busby said. “You often come across ducks in seemingly odd places around campus but, that was definitely the oddest place I’ve seen them,” Stuart Warren, the senior library adviser, told BBC. Halford-Busby added that the cute sighting “did bring some excitement into an otherwise peaceful evening.”
It’s not just ducks across the pond who are part of this phenomenon, either. Gary Allen High School in Ontario, Canada, has a long-standing tradition with a local duck who takes an annual tour through the school buildings to get to a creek. “At least once a year, a mother and her brood of ducklings make their way from her nesting grounds, through a high school, to a nearby creek,” CBC posted on Facebook in 2019. “Staff have helped guide the family on their journey for the last 10 years.”
Additional:
Adorable Baby Ducklings Ushered Outside After Waddling Into Library (Western Journal/Amanda Thomason/09-14-2021)
Family of Ducks Waddles Through University of Nottingham Library (BBC East Midlands/09-01-2021)
Adorable Footage Shows Family of Ducks Being Ushered Out of Library (Good News Network/09-07-2021)
POTD: Cycle of Life
I wasn’t expecting to see this. I was a bit startled and thought I might scare the bird. The small creek was quite a bit of a steep drop. This may be hard to look at but, the carrion eaters are the necessary clean-up crew. At first, I thought it might be a deer but, the tail appears to be too long. Click on the picture to see a larger shot, if you wish. ~Vic
Picture of the Day
Shutterbug Saturday: Frog Strangler 2.0
We continue to have stormy, rainy weather and the temperature has dropped, considerably. We traded floods for tornadoes, yesterday. I learned, today, that two small farms south of town were damaged. I have a healthy respect for Mother Nature. ~Vic
See Part I
This helped flood my neighbor's backyard.
04-13-2019
The town closed it for a couple of days.
I saw a juvenile garter snake making its way back across the walk when I was out on the third day.
