Nine little ducklings and their mother are safely back in a natural habitat after a brief sojourn at the Holiday Inn on First Street.
Ron Taylor, the pool manager at the hotel, discovered the ducklings last Thursday, just a day after they hatched in a nest in a potted azalea bush on the pool’s outdoor deck.
Mommy duck and her peeps decided to go for a swim in the outdoor portion of the pool. Mommy was able to get out of the pool, but the ducklings, unable to fly, were stuck. The water wasn't high enough to the steps for the ducklings to climb out.
Taylor and another staff member rescued them from the pool and then raised the water level to the top so that the young guests wouldn’t be stranded again.
Realizing that this was not a permanent solution, Taylor got some assistance from the National Wildlife Federation. Dellaine Wyse was instrumental in providing that assistance. She answers the Wildlife Rescue League hot line.
“I called one of our rehabilitators, [Jim Snyder] and he went and collected mommy and the ducklings and took them to a safe place,” Wyse said. “It’s a story with a happy ending.”
Wyse takes a number of these calls in the spring. “Little ducklings get themselves into all sorts of trouble,” she said. “The best thing to do is to coax mother and the babies into a box or a cage and walk them to a river or lake and wait for them to leave. Mother ducks are very smart and will stay with their babies unless they are hurt or dead. In those cases, our rehabilitators often take them home until they are old enough to be released.”