In honor of the University of Oregon's victory in yesterday's Fiesta Bowl, I give you ... DUCKS!

[Blue_In_AK]

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[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Wow, my dear Blue........what a flock!

They seem to be feeding very happily!

It's a great shot, and I thank you.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. This is only a few of them.

The water in this park doesn't usually freeze and people are always there feeding them corn and bread, so they just hang around through the winter. I think there are even more this year than last year...I guess the word got out that anchorage isn't so bad in the wintertime after all.

[Solly Mack]

2. Lots of duckies! A Duck-Fest!

Love it!

[elleng]

3. Mother Duck's 'Bird Brain' saves ducklings!

Don't mention "bird brains" to Ray Petersen, because after what happened this week, he won't hear a word of it.

P...etersen, a community police officer for Granville Downtown South, was walking in the 1500-block Granville Street (directly under the Granville Bridge) Wednesday morning when a duck came up and grabbed him by the pant leg. Then it started waddling around him and quacking.

"I thought it was a bit goofy, so I shoved it away," Petersen said in an interview.

But the duck, a female (he thinks it was a mallard), wasn't about to give up that easily. Making sure she still had Petersen's eye, she waddled up the road about 20 metres and lay on a storm sewer grate.

Petersen watched and thought nothing of it.

"But when I started walking again, she did the same thing. She ran around and grabbed me again."

It became obvious to him then that something was up.

So when she waddled off to the sewer grate a second time, Petersen decided to follow.

"I went up to where the duck was lying and saw eight little babies in the water below. They had fallen down between the grates."

So Petersen took action. He phoned police Sergeant Randy Kellens, who arrived at the scene and, in turn, got in touch with two more constables.

"When they came down, the duck ran around them as well, quacking. Then she lay down on the grate," Petersen said.

While Kellens looked over into the grate, the duck sat on the curb and watched.

Then the two constables, John Schilling and Allison Hill, marshalled a tow truck that lifted the grate out of position, allowing the eight ducklings to be rescued one by one with a vegetable strainer.

"While we were doing this, the mother duck just lay there and watched," Petersen says.

Once the ducklings were safe, however, she set about marching them down to False Creek, where they jumped into the water.

Kellens followed them to make sure they were all right, but elected to remain on shore.

The experience has changed Petersen's mind about ducks. He thinks they're a lot smarter than he used to.
And while he never ate duck before, he says he wouldn't dream of it now. " Source: Vancouver Sun

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. That's a wonderful story, my dear elleng!

No bird brain indeed. That mama duck saved her babies.

Good for all involved!

[Blue_In_AK]

6. What a nice story.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. What a marvelous story!

Gave me a big early morning grin.
I have had ducks. They are actually quite smart, and very dedicated parents, indeed.

[Speck Tater]

7. Ducks gotta have a place to roost

(I took this picture while taking a walk last summer)

[Blue_In_AK]

9. You're in Eugene?

My daughter went to law school there, which Is part of the reason for my loyalty to the team, plus I just like the way they play. You never know what to expect.

[Speck Tater]

14. Yup. Or close to it, out in the boondocks north of town. nt

[NV Whino]

8. Don't tell graywarrior

Or hide the "duck" tape.

[justiceischeap]

10. My goodness that's a lot of ducks.

I'm finding as a get older that large swarms of anything tend to freak me out. I'm afraid if that happened to me, I'd run away squealing like a pig.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. I was standing in the midst of several of them

when they all decided to take flight. The breeze their wings generated was pretty impressive. I found myself "ducking."

[Mira]

11. This photograph is a work of art

It is wonderful.

[Celebration]

12. Woo Hoo!

Honored to give this thread the fifth rec! Go Ducks!

My son-in-law is a huge Ducks fan, so by default so am I.