We Go Feed the Ducks!

A few days after the trip to the skating rink I walked the kids (minus YaYa, who was at Grandma’s, and *plus* Mary, one of Lu’s friends that had slept over) to the park. 

The goal was to feed the ducks at the pond. In my youth, that was a simple, legal and frequent accomplishment. I remember both my parent’s taking me, separately and together, to toss an old loaf’s worth of bread to the birds many times.

Alas, feeding them is now verboten. I believe the thinking goes that it disturbs their natural instincts and delays their migration, in turn disrupting their reproductive and life cycle. No doubt the scientists are right, and eleven years into fatherhood I had yet to ignore their commands. Then I decided, what the heck; ya only live once.

Smiley, despite loving birds and ducks in particular (he carries a mallard stuffed animal called “Ducky” everywhere) was initially very against this trip, as he is a strong believer in law and order. Soon, however, the beauty of the birds and their affection for his bread won him over!

Here’s a duck that looks just like his stuffed animal, btw:

Anyhow, there’s not a lot of ‘meat’ to this story. We walked there, we fed the ducks, drawing the attention of every goose and duck in the park, the kids had a blast and we walked home.









 I suppose, looking back, that I could point out how the kids tried to parcel the food out to the tiniest or loneliest of the birds, something that was sweet but didn’t work out so well in the cutthroat world of nature, where the fastest and strongest birds often beat them to the goodies.

There was also this fine creature, a super aggressive, not so intelligent or steady goose that wandered out of the water, over the rocks and right up to me looking for spoils. Years ago I detested the geese for the mess their droppings make in the park, but as in most regards I have mellowed with time, and I thought this bird was rather adorable.

Will we feed the birds again? Eh, I do tend to abide by the law and the well-being of the ecosystem, so I’m leaning towards no . . . but maybe just once or twice. We’ll have to see J