About two weeks ago, I was interviewed by Natalie Earl, a reporter for the student newspaper The Chicago Maroon. The topic: Botany Pond, its restoration, and its ducks. They put out a story yesterday in the “Grey City” section of the paper, a story that includes pictures of Esther and Mordecai as well as information about ducks nesting on ledges.
I am somewhat embarrassed as I am mentioned too often, in my view, and others who contributed, including the members of Team Duck and the people in Facilities, aren’t mentioned. In fact, although I and other members of Team Duck have worked with Facilities to make suggestions for the pond, and to turn on the Duck Cam (that will happen), the changes that have and will happen are due to the beneficence of Facilities. There are other changes I cannot mention now, but I will let you know when the Duck Cam is turned on.
Ms. Earl did get everything right, though I’m embarrassed to be characterized as the self-appointed “Duck Master” (it’s “Duckmeister”!). You can read by clicking below, where you’ll see new photos of Esther and Mordecai. And I’ll recount a story below:
From Earl’s article:
To those who are wondering, “How do the ducklings get down from the second-story window ledge?” the answer is simple: they jump! Most of them can jump straight into the water, and those that do hit the ground land on a cushion of grass. Having monitored this process many times, Coyne claims that the ducklings seem to recover just fine and waddle themselves the rest of the way over to the pond.
There was one time though that Coyne had to intervene. In 2020 Dorothy and Honey were competing for space at Botany Pond.
Dorothy claimed space in the west windows of Erman Biology Center, above the patch of grass between the pond and the building, while Honey built her nest in the east windows of the building, 30 feet above stone pavement.
At Coyne’s urging, former University President Robert Zimmer directed a facilities team to put a duckling trampoline beneath the nest. That year’s duckling-hatching day was so harrowing that the Chicago Tribune wrote it was “as action-packed as an Avengers movie,” with “death-defying leaps from tall buildings! Violent feuding! A fired gun!” [That was the great Mary Schmich, who wrote three pieces on Honey for the Trib.)
Coyne told the Maroon he’s glad to have just one pair to watch out for this year.
Here I am feeding Honey in the good old days (I suspect she’s no longer alive), wearing my mask during the pandemic. And below that is my favorite photo of Honey, which I call the “soccer ball” picture.
I will soon have exciting news, though, about memorializing this unforgettable mallard. Stay tuned.
Nice! The article also locks in the names Esther and Mordecai, and teaches people a bit about Purim.
Glad to see this!
🦆🐣🐥
(Hey Apple, Where’s the Mallard hen emoji!?)
The patriarchy at work.
Need the Platyrhyncharchy to solve this.
(I amuse myself, I can’t help it 😁)
Yes, I have long fretted over the absence of a hen emoji. I am much fonder of the hens than of the drakes.
Swimming.
Interesting to learn you’ve been caring for the ducks this long. I think I stumbled upon weit in 2021 or thereabouts. I missed the trampoline saga. I’ll bet you were a wreck with worry!
Yep! But then I am always a wreck with worry about the ducks! They are my substitute children. . .
Congratulations to our very own Duckmeister!
I second that! 🦆🦆🦆
I am delighted to read about this writeup.
Jerry had mentioned a few days ago that his duck posts don’t get many comments. I don’t know much about ducks but I will say this. His posts have gradually caused me to pay more attention to the ducks using the storm-water run-off retention pond recently built behind our suburban house, instead of assuming they were all mallards. (Nothing wrong with mallards!) This past winter we had several bufflehead ducks that hung around all winter, off and on when the pond wasn’t frozen, and now there are at least three MF pairs and some single males. And at least one pair of goldeneyes. We are at the northern edge of both their winter ranges. The bird guide says they breed farther north so we will see what happens. The habitat looks suitable for ducks, with a shallow shoreline and constant water level. The ducks seem happy.
I don’t know if this population is new, or if my eye has been sharpened by WEIT to notice things I didn’t notice before. But no matter. I’m glad to be a new duck-noticer.
Perhaps you would like to give them a little nosh once in a while!
They are wild ducks and I’m not sure they are “meant” to stay here to breed. I can’t bring myself to feed wildlife. Canadian proclivity, I guess.
Jerry, it is a face mask, not a chin mask.
I was outdoors during the pandemic and nobody else was on campus. Are you sure you want to rebuke me for this?
My interpretation was that the mask was in the “ready” position, not the “deployed” position. Sort of the way an armoured knight would raise his helmet visor so he could see better and clamp it down over his face for battle. With the mask on the chin it lasts longer because it doesn’t get wet and you don’t lose it. We must attempt to conserve scarce resources, right? At one time we were being exhorted not to use masks at all, to save supplies for health-care workers exposed face-to-face with sick people.
God how I miss those days! People screaming at you if you passed by them with only 6 feet of clearance instead of 2 metres….or didn’t walk out into the street in front of traffic to avoid them. So much social cohesion we had then….
Thank you for sharing the story and Honey photos. I hope Honey is bathing and preening in some other pond. She became a special duck to me through your stories.
I’m sure the new couple will give Botany Pond a great review and other young duck couples will be attracted to it.
Thank you for the update, Jerry. I enjoy hearing about Botany Pond and the ducks. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for update! That is a wonderful portrait of Honey.
My favorite sentence: “At Coyne’s urging, former University President Robert Zimmer directed a facilities team to put a duckling trampoline beneath the nest.” Wish I could have heard that conversation.
“Ms. Earl did get everything right, though I’m embarrassed to be characterized as the self-appointed “Duck Master” (it’s “Duckmeister”!).”
Lol, I did not read “Duckmeister” at first, but “Ducksteiner”. I was a little confused as to what a well-known German beer variety could have to do with the topic. 😀
“Duckstein is a beer brand of Carlsberg A/S, which is a top-fermented beer with a reddish color. In terms of beer type, it is best categorized as an Altbier.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duckstein_(Bier)