May 2005

By Vincent Del Giudice

May 1 (Bloomberg) — The duck that made her home on a mulch pile outside the U.S. Treasury and the 11 ducklings she hatched there were released today to the wilds of an urban forest in Washington.

A team of Agriculture Department wildlife biologists took the brown mallard and her offspring from the makeshift pen on the sidewalk in front of the Treasury where she was guarded by Secret Service officers and became a favored attraction of tourists and Treasury Secretary John Snow.

The biologists were surprised to find two more ducklings than expected. The mother duck — with the help of the federal agents — kept close guard on her roost and their best guess was that she had nine eggs.

The mother and her yellow-and-black flock were rounded up and placed in the back of a red government pickup truck for a 15-minute ride to Rock Creek Park, which runs through the northwestern part of the city.

“It’s a great ending to the story,” said Jean Card, a Treasury spokeswoman as she watched their release at 9:47 a.m. Washington time.

After spending a little time in a holding pen to get acclimated to the park, 10 chicks kept pace with the mother — variously nicknamed by Treasury employees as Duck Cheney, T-Bill and Quacks Reform –as she waddled across the grass to the muddy banks of Rock Creek.

Alas, there’s always one in the family, and duckling No. 11 was late leaving the container.

The confused bundle of feathers stumbled at the top of the bank, flipped over — its webbed feet churning in the air — regained its footing, flipped again and splashed into the creek.

It paddled furiously and caught up with the convoy as it headed south, in the direction of the Potomac River.

The duck took up residence at the beginning of April on the mulch pile around a tree that is on the pedestrian area of Pennsylvania Avenue and steps away from 15th Street, a busy thoroughfare. The ducklings began hatching yesterday.

“We hope for a better life and a better location away from all this traffic,” biologist Kevin Sullivan, who took part in the relocation, said.