Duck in pond near our house

[Saviah Wildlife]

On our walk (myself and kids) we found a duck near the shore in a pond. It seemed to have lost a great deal of weight and the lower part of its bill hangs down as if broken or maybe something is stuck. Anyway there are no rehabbers in this area or near so we called Animal control. Animal control said they would take it to a rehabber (no idea where).

So they get here and she doesn't have a net or anything to really catch it. We try to approach it and it swims off (haven't seen it fly at all). It doesn't seem to me she's going to try hard enough to catch this thing. I end up going INTO the mucky pond to try to scare the duck towards her.

Well that failed, and the AC officer gave up without really trying IMHO. She did say she would come back today and bring more stuff, but we'll see. I hope she does and we catch it.

If it IS something in its mouth I can probably try to "fix" it myself and release, otherwise I suspect they will put it down. Worst case scenario I think it's best since it is slowly dieing of starvation.

I'll update soon

:(

[MissDolittle]

I hope the AC officer comes back today and gets the duck! Sounds like
she might have a fishing hook stuck in her bill that collected debris too
maybe?

Let us know what happens!

[Saviah Wildlife]

I hope the AC officer comes back today and gets the duck! Sounds like
she might have a fishing hook stuck in her bill that collected debris too
maybe?

Let us know what happens!

No call from her, I'm taking the kids back to check it. I'm bringing a few things but I wish I had a fishing net. I have a hemostat (in case there is something in its mouth and I can take it out)

Wish me luck

[MissDolittle]

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!! :)

[thundersquirrel]

maybe a butterfly net would work. they're kinda flimsy, but my net has caught a number of animals in the past pretty well.

good luck from me, too! :smt023

[Saviah Wildlife]

Well I took alot of useful items with me, only to find no duck out there.

I have to be optimistic and think that maybe animal control came back but didn't call me first.

I couldn't find a dead body which also keeps me optimistic. Will keep this updated if there is anything to update

[Saviah Wildlife]

Since I've been in this forum (for the bird) I thought I might update this thread.

We still take our walks around that pond, and still to date this duck is not there.

So yes I do think they came to get the duck.

[MissDolittle]

That's good news! Thanks :).

[Nadine]

One morning last winter we woke up and found the house dogs staring at the fireplace (the fire had long gone out from the night before) and heard a funny chirping sort of sound from behind the screen. When we opened the screen we saw a little mallard duck hunkered down in the corner. We got a towel and a box and when we tried to catch the duck he flew out of the fireplace and into the kitchen. He landed on the floor so we laid the towel over him and set him in a box to see if he was hurt (he wasn't), so we covered the box and took him outside. As soon as the box top came off he flew straight to our lake. Never did figure out how he got down the chimney, but we were happy he made it back home to his friends.

[SnyperKat]

Birds seem to find their way in there. My grandmother has rescued a fair amount of birds out of her fireplace, although she never got a bird as big as a duck before!

[MissDolittle]

That's a funny story, thanks for sharing that!! lol

[Nadine]

We have ducks and also flocks of Canadian Geese, sometimes we see eagles and have even seen a few red cock-headed woodpeckers (not too many around these days). We put out food for them.
We also feed the deer, we get sweet feed and corn out for them. The deer come right up next to the house! The deer just love turnip greens and eat more then we do!

[SnyperKat]

My mom puts out nuts and seeds for the birds and squirrels around here every day! We also used to get deer in the fields around our house, so she used to buy carrots and place little piles around the field right beside us. Unfortunately we haven't seen any in a while... then my mom saw a newspaper article about how a few poachers had recently been arrested for hunting deer in our town. ~sigh~ We haven't seen any since. :(

[MissDolittle]

My dane was barking over the fence yesterday and would not stop until I went to see what was going on. 2 ducks were sitting under a bush across the alley.

I put them into a crate and drove them down to the river and put them in the water with the other ducks.

The river is too far for them to have made it all the way up here on their own, and their bottom half was extremely dirty and filthy and stank, leading me to the conclusion that they were caged without water and not much care. They were very young animals, late juvis, and never seen the water before.

What a fest that was! They dove and head under and butt up and wiggle here and throwing around water there and flapping them wings and bathing and checking out the other ducks, who made all real long necks, but then eventually took these 2 in.

I loved that one!