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nedj
Member
since 2006-06-23
Posts 87
Oregon USA

0 posted 2007-09-18 04:17 PM


Forever Zeke

It was late summer when Lori introduced me to Zeke. She had found him and one of his siblings in the little creek that ran behind her apartment, abandoned by their mother who had presumably died. They were the tiniest of ducklings then, and she could not leave them alone in the wild, so she brought them home and nursed them as best she could. The sibling wasn’t strong enough, and after only a few days succumbed. But Zeke, being of sterner stock, hung on.

Weeks went by, and Zeke got bigger and stronger, growing toward maturity. It was then that Lori realized she would soon face a difficult choice: what would she do with him? She had by now become quite attached to Zeke, and he to her. Yet not only was her lifestyle inconsistent with keeping a duck as a pet, but in her heart she knew that he would not be happiest living among humans. He was, after all a wild duck, born of countless generations of wild fowl. She knew that Zeke must be returned to the world of his parents, and theirs, and theirs. But how?

It is well know that reintroducing wild animals back into the wild world at any age is a chancy proposition at best. A young duck is no exception. After weeks of consideration, as she watched him grow stronger and more capable, she decided on a plan.

She asked me if I would go with her to a pond on the college campus where wild ducks summered and bred. We bundled up Zeke and set out. When we arrived there were dozens of mother ducks with their young ducklings in and around the pond. There were also scattered among them numerous males.

With love and sadness, Lori set Zeke down on the bank of the pond and let him go. He stood there looking confused for a few moments, but then he waddled off toward the pond. When he arrived at the water’s edge, he just plunged in as if an ancient knowledge told him just where he belonged.
He immediately swam toward the nearest mother duck and her brood who followed close behind her. Zeke’s coloration was that mixture of earth tones that characterized North American ducks, while the other chicks were all yellow. It was not hard to tell which one didn’t fit.

The other chicks, though all smaller than Zeke, immediately turn back on him as he tried to join the rear of the parade. They pecked at him and soon he just fell back and gave up the chase. But he was by no means through.

He spotted another family nearby, and made a beeline for their rear echelon. These ducklings looked to be a little older, and the coloration of a couple of them was more like Zeke’s, though most were yellow.

Here again, though, they turned back on him an pecked and did all they could to make it clear that he was not wanted. This time he stayed anyway. Then the mother noticed him, and turned herself to peck at him. That was all that Zeke needed to send him away.

The pattern repeated itself over and over for at least a hour. Lori and I stood helplessly on the bank of the pond, watching the drama unfold, talking now and then about what we saw. We were thoroughly impressed with Zeke’s persistence, courage, and determination. It was as though his very life depended on being accepted, and perhaps it did. But none of his efforts produced even the slightest encouragement from any other duck, young or old. Only rejection and attack.

Finally, we were hoping that he would come back onto the bank so that we could pick him up and put an end to the ordeal. Some time later he had been trailing one family group for a few minutes far enough back so that they wouldn’t turn and attack him. When the mother led her brood up onto the shore, Zeke followed several feet behind.

No sooner had he struggled out of the water than a nearby male spied him and approached rapidly. He began to attack Zeke with more serious intentions than to just ward him off. It seemed likely that his purpose was a lethal one. We were about to intervene when a most astounding thing happened.
The mother of the brood he had followed out of the pond suddenly turned back, and went after the attacking male. She flapped her wings, and quacked loudly, and pecked at him in the way that duck mothers have always done while protecting their young. Her assault was successful, and the male soon retreated.

She then turned and went back to leading her family on their way, and Zeke followed them. They soon went back into the water, Zeke close behind them, and this time no one was paying any attention to him. He swam close up behind the rear of the troop, and still no one bothered him. After half an hour of this, Lori and felt comfortable enough to leave.

We returned each of the next several days to check on him, and on each occasion we found Zeke with his new family hale, hearty, and to all appearances, happy. Later, as the pond’s duck population headed for warmer climes, Zeke and his adoptive family were nowhere to be seen. They had joined the others in a southern migration, and we never saw any of them again.

I felt so privileged to have been invited to participate in this most amazing episode. But it was mostly Zeke that made the impression on me. Even after all these years, he is still my hero when it comes to determination, persistence, and holding out for what you want and need.

But today he taught me a new and perhaps even more valuable lesson. Something reminded me yet again of this brave and determined duckling, but this time it was his intense desire to find himself a place in this big world that grabbed my attention. It had been there all along, but I had never quite focused on it before.

I began looking at that primal desire that we all have, every one of us, to belong, to fit in, to find a place where we are in our own element. In simplest terms, where we are at home. It is this sense of connection that is behind much of our desire to be loved, to achieve in the material realm, and to make our personal impact on this world while we are here.

And, of course, I saw it so clearly in myself, how I have spent decades yearning after, searching for, such a place. Who would have thought that my most powerful example, my best guru, would be a duckling only a few weeks old. For no one else has ever shown me so clearly, so eloquently, and so successfully just how important this instinct is, nor how powerful its motive force, nor that it can lead us to the home we all seek.

So thank-you, Zeke. And thank-you Lori for including me in this innocuous experiment in wildlife management. I list it among the most valuable gifts I have ever received. And as of this day, I am still learning important lessons from it. I hope that will never end. Now, by writing it down, I hope to share it with others, too, most notably, you.

© Copyright 2007 Ned Johnson - All Rights Reserved
Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
1 posted 2007-09-19 09:40 AM


Hi Ned.........this is such a touching story.  It reminds me of how many lessons can come from unexpected places.  Zeke is a glimpse of that, and also the caring hearts that watched him and recognized his bravery and determination. Your writing skill is obvious in the way you told his story.  Thank you for posting it here.  
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