Make Way for West Side Ducklings

By Alexandra Waldhorn

With help from students at P.S. 166 on West 89th Street, five little ducklings made their way from the shade of a schoolyard evergreen bush to a lake in Central Park, near West 100th Street. Last month, a wild female mallard duck unexpectedly chose to lay six eggs in the school’s Reading Garden, bringing students a rare wildlife education experience.

Garo Tekeyan, the school’s science consultant, and James Mitchell, the office administrator, fenced off a nesting area around the bush with grass sod to prevent the eggs from rolling away.

On May 14, the eggs hatched and five fuzzy ducklings tested their wobbly webbed-feet—luckily, on school grounds.

Tekeyan brought them a wading pool and stacked a few bricks up to its rim to make an easy entry. Less than a week later, the Wild Bird Fund transported the legion of yellow ducklings in a carrier to their new home in Central Park.