When I had left for class yesterday, my parents had texted me a photo of a mother duck and her ducklings.

“They’re in front of our house right now. There’re 10 of them!”

My parents had notified me before going out.

“If they’re still there when you get home, why don’t you give them some veggies?” My mother had texted.

Thrilled to see the family of ducks, I went straight home after class. But when I arrived, there were no signs of ducks. Disappointed, I went inside and worked on my assignments, thinking that maybe some other time I’ll get to see them.

Then I heard loud quacks.

Excited, I dashed outside with a bag of romaine. To my surprise, there was only the mother duck. She quacked and waddled in the parking lot in front of my house. When I tried to give her romaine, she came close for a moment only to waddle away instantly.

Puzzled at the absence of her 10 ducklings and at her odd behavior, I went back inside. Perhaps the ducklings were safe in their home somewhere and the mother duck was checking out the neighborhood. But the mother duck began to quack again at about 8 o’clock in the evening, which made me and my mom go outside to see what the matter was.

When we went close to the mother duck to see what was going on, she scurried away only to waddle back close again. Unable to see what the matter was, we went back inside.

It wasn’t until this morning at around 6:50 that I was able to see what was really going on.

When I woke up this morning, I heard the mother duck quacking again. Maybe this time she’ll want some food, I thought, and with the bag of romaine, I rushed outside to see the mother duck alone by the parking lot. But then again, when I threw pieces of romaine on the floor close to the mother duck, she waddled away. And came back.

However, this time, I noticed that the mother duck was lingering by an opening that leads to the storm drain.

Then, I realized that loud chirping sounds were coming from under it.

Before, I had thought that the chirping noises were coming from nearby bushes. Mixed with the chirps of other birds, I had not realized the chirps of the baby ducklings coming from the drain!!!

Now I saw that the mother duck was waddling around the parking lot because she was anxious, worried, and desperate to save her ducklings that had fallen in the drain. She had been quacking for help. When I came with a bag of romaine, she had come close then waddled away, because she did not want food – she wanted help!

Ascertaining with my mother that the high-pitched chirps were coming from down under, I called the Animal Services Unit of the police department, which luckily was open at 7 A.M.

While waiting for the Animal Services Unit, my mother and I stood with the anxious mother duck next to us. My mother said to her: “You poor thing. They’re coming to get your babies out. Wait a little bit longer.”

When my mom had gone back inside to cook breakfast, I stood alone with the mother duck. She had waddled to and fro in the parking lot and around the drain all day and night. The poor thing had been quacking to alert and ask for help since yesterday afternoon. I had been so blind!

Suddenly, the mother duck paused and stared at me, or in my direction. And after a short silence, she fluttered her wings and flew above me as I dodged. She flew far, far away and disappeared.

I had thought at that moment, “She must have went out to get more help. She’ll come back.”

But even after someone from the Animal Services Unit came and rescued the little baby ducklings (there were actually 11!) from the wet, cold storm drain, she did not come back.

The rescuer told me that he could not wait longer for mother duck to come back: he needed to take the baby ducklings (who were rescued and huddling inside a white container) to a wildlife rescue center located in Huntington Beach, CA.

At first, I asked the man to wait a bit longer for their mother. She was here less than half an hour ago; she was sure to come back, I pleaded. But as minutes passed and there were no signs of her, I finally agreed with the rescuer that it would be best for the ducklings to go, as they were hungry, weak, and tired from the long, cold night they had to endure.

The man from the Animal Services Unit left with the 11 little ducklings to Huntington Beach. The mother duck did not come back.

I don’t know what the mother duck was thinking about when she flew away. I will never know. But maybe after successfully letting someone know about her poor babies stuck in the drain, she had felt that she did all she could. Perhaps she was content knowing that her ducklings would be rescued. Maybe she was watching us humans rescue her ducklings from a distance.

I will never know.

P.S. I encountered another mother duck and her ducklings at a park. But this time, I could not rescue them… 😔

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