A duck moved into my yard

This large duck has been sitting in my flower bed since Friday and naturally, I am a total failure at getting him to leave. He gets up and walks around, but doesn’t go very far and then he goes back in my flower bed and lays down. And me, being me, by Saturday I put a large bowl of water near him and was googling what to feed him. I talked to him and told him that he’s a pretty bird, but he needs to go somewhere else. He turned his head and looked at me when I talked to him and when I told him he’s a pretty bird, he stood up and shook his tail feathers … then he plopped back down. One of my sons asked me on Saturday, what I’ve named my duck. He’s not “my” duck. I’m assuming he is injured or sick, judging by how little he’s moving.

On Saturday I called an animal rehabilitator for avians, but she had a recorded message stating she isn’t taking any birds and a phone number for some emergency animal hospital an hour away.

This morning I called my local animal control and was informed they don’t handle wildlife and she referred me to my local police department. I called my local police and the lady transferred me to the state police, who transferred me to someone else. That place referred me to some state agency with an 800 number, that has a message – all of their lines are busy, call back later – every time I’ve called it.

So, my current “plan” is to find some food for this duck, that he will eat, keep giving him fresh water and hope he gets well enough to leave under his own steam. Let’s see, he didn’t eat grapes or carrots cut in small pieces. He has been eating wild bird seed and he’s eating spring mix lettuce. Oh, and he’s very adept at catching flies. There are woods right behind my back yard, so it’s not like he has to travel far to find some natural woodland habitat. There’s a small stream in those woods too.

I guess I’m going to have to break down and buy duck food.

And yes, I know I should have just ignored him and not given him food and water, but I did. He seems stronger today and has been standing up a lot more.

At least I haven’t named him yet.