Twigs from my garden

Last year, spring waddled through the big metal doors at Lima's Home Depot on two splayed feet in the form of a fuzzy duckling. A mother mallard had laid her eggs on some bags of mulch at the back of the store and then disappeared. All that was left of the brood was this one little hardy harbinger of the season who appeared quite lost in the large nursery.

Nancy Lhamon, who has worked at Home Depot since its opening, was cashiering at the nursery register that day. An animal lover, she was understandably concerned about the tiny duck's survival amidst trucks and foot traffic. That evening she took the little duckling home to her farm, where she and her son raised Daisy, as she named her, on chicken feed in a corner of the kitchen with a pan of water to dabble in.

My first encounter with Daisy was after Nancy asked if I knew anyone who had a farm pond where Daisy might eventually return to the wild. By then, Daisy was nearly grown; her green and blue-striped wings were ready to fly. "She needs to be with her own kind," Nancy explained wistfully.

Knowing that raising and keeping wildlife is illegal, I contacted a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the Ohio Division of Wildlife to care for and raise injured and abandoned wild animals. After explaining the situation to her, she agreed the best thing would be to release the young mallard in a natural setting. "You'll be surprised," she told me, "just how quickly she'll return to the wild."

That weekend, Nancy brought me Daisy in a pet carrier. We placed her cage, in which she was used to sleeping, on our screened porch where I knew she would be safe from other animals. Daisy quickly scurried over and settled herself down on Nancy's feet where she felt more at home in her strange surroundings. It wasn't easy for Nancy to say goodbye to Daisy, but she looked forward to returning and visiting her.

For the next few days, it was apparent Daisy was not content within the confines of the porch. In no time she was following my husband wherever he went outside. I tried to coax her into the shallow water, but she timidly stayed on shore. One night I had to go out of town. When I returned, my husband proudly announced, "Daisy has a new trick!" He stood in the shallow water while Daisy expertly swam figure eights between his legs.

It was only the next day that I opened the porch door and started out toward the pond when I was startled to see Daisy flying right past me, landing in the water ahead. After that, there was no getting Daisy back inside the porch. I set a dish of feed in the grasses along the pond's edge where she was nestled and hoped her natural instincts of protection were as strong as her instincts to swim and fly.

The next day I called and couldn't find Daisy at all. I searched all along the bank of the pond. The dish of food was overturned, but appeared uneaten. There were no feathers or sign of any struggle. Had she just flown away? The following day, my father and I walked to the pond and, again, I called her, not expecting to find her.

"Daisy! Daisy!" I called out. I had given up hope, when, suddenly, I heard a splash in the water and here she came swimming from across the pond, as fast as her little feet could paddle. She waddled up the bank and settled down right behind my father. When he finally left, she started after him, but as she lost sight of him, came back and lay in the grass a few feet away from me. Hating to leave her, I laid down beside her in the mown grass until it began to grow dark and chilly. That was the last I saw of Daisy that year. However, this spring, a pair of mallards (my husband named the male Butch) shows up regularly at both my father's and my ponds. I would like to think that Daisy has come back home.

However, this isn't the complete end of the story. This afternoon, I received a phone call from Nancy. Even as nursery employees are selling marked down merchandise for the imminent closing of the store, another brood of ducklings has hatched on the bags of mulch. All the babies have disappeared, and the mother, frightened by the confusion of customers, has flown off. However, there is still one egg lying on the mulch waiting to hatch.

Master Gardener Tip of the Week

Should you find an injured or orphaned wild animal, contact your local sheriff's department who will contact a licensed individual to properly care for the animal.