Every morning, I take my newspaper and a big mug of coffee out onto the patio to read in the peaceful quiet. My three kitties come outside with me and do a "grounds check" to see what intruders may have passed through during the night. They check out the shrubs and trees but don't go farther than the wooded lot next door. (I admit, disabuse them of wandering with a squirt bottle.)
They often sprawl under the huge pine trees across the yard. I looked up from my paper to see Sunny chasing something over there. I assumed it was his usual prey--a dragonfly or moth. After a few minutes, I saw him pick up something in his mouth that was much larger. He then dashed toward the patio and I saw he had a baby duck hanging headfirst out of his mouth. I was shocked and alarmed. I jumped up to take it from him and he ran away (of course!).
I was able to chase him into the house with the other two cats close behind. Once cornered, Sunny released his prey--first one tiny wood duck--and then a second one! The two terrified little ducks took off running in different directions with the cats in close pursuit. One was weaving among the legs of the dining room chairs while the other ran behind the couch. Since the biggest threat was the cats, I set about rounding them up and locking them in the bedroom.
(Sunny relaxing)
Next, I had to catch the little ducks who were amazingly fast and energetic, especially since they don't appear to be more than a few days old. I finally captured each of them by dropping a towel over them. I found a deep box and put them inside. They seemed unhurt despite Sunny's attempts to keep them in his jaws. I laid the towel over them to calm them and they became still.
I walked over to the pine trees where Sunny found the ducklings but there was no trace of other ducks and no sign of a nest. I decided they probably got lost and wandered there--maybe after the bad storm of a few days ago.
After the excitement, I was too restless to finish reading the paper, so I decided to go over to Curves and do my workout. To make sure the cats couldn't get at the baby ducks, I set the box on top of the refrigerator and set stuff on the counter to keep the cats from jumping up there. I then let the cats out of the bedroom. Everything seemed secure, so I left.
When I came back an hour later, I walked in the door to see a duckling running across the living room cheeping loudly. The other duckling was running down the hall to the bedroom. Sunny, Gracie and Tweedy were all lying nonchalantly on the floor watching this mayhem with mild interest
I was stunned! How had they jumped out of the box and off the refrigerator with their tiny little legs? And how were they running around unmolested by the cats?
I proceeded to round up the ducklings with a towel again, and this time, I deposited them in the bathtub and closed the door. I went on Google to find out how to take care of baby wood ducks. If the wealth of information available online is any indication, it's not that uncommon to find little ones. I learned that if they're cheeping, that means they're cold--so I put a heating pad set on low in the tub. They crawled on top and snuggled together. I gave them a straight-sided shallow pan for water and finely chopped some lettuce, a strawberry and walnuts for food.
I'm pondering what to do next. I'm thinking of keeping them until they're a little bigger and taking them to a pond. At the moment, one of them is running around in the bathtub cheeping loudly while the other is quietly resting on the heating pad. I'm concerned it may have been injured. I would welcome any advice from any of you duckling lovers
RIP Little Darlings
