Ducks Feeding

When we first moved into our apartment in the Spring of 2002, we noticed a few small groups of ducks quacking and waddling through the parking lot.  It didn’t take long to recognize that they knew the good apartments to go to for treats, and we joined the band of duck feeders.  We started out like most just tossing out bread or bits of rolls.  It didn’t take long for my wife Amy to point out that throwing out bread every day was like serving a buffet of candy bars, pie and ice cream at a homeless shelter: sure to be popular but unhealthy.  So we headed to a local feed shop and found out that cheap big bags of layer feed were just what the duck doctor ordered.  It wasn’t long before we were also buying special “dishes” and water bowls, and keeping them fed both at the front door and at the open patio around the back.  There was a little misbehavior and fighting amongst some of the ducks, but there were recognizable good couples and single males amongst the group.  Sometime late that summer or fall they took off for their winter home, but until then we enjoyed being greeted by begging in the morning and just watching them hang around.

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