The 6 ducks we released this year were from 3 different families. The first was a single black duckling which we picked up from a family with a toddler near the ABC building. They were quite interested in it's progress so we decided to involve them in it's release, if possible, when the time came. It became like a "parent" duck at the age of about 3 weeks when the next 5 ducklings arrived. 2 black and 3 wood ducklings. They seemed to look to the bigger duckling for leadership and nestled under and around it most of the time. It was a bit tricky knowing when to release them as we wanted them to be together, but knew if we waited too long the oldest may fly from our place alone, during their "daily exercise time" in our backyard. As the October Monday holiday was a beautiful day, we decided to release them then - a little concerned for the younger ones, but we figured they were nearly there and faced the same risks as all young wild ducks. Also the first duckling's rescuers were available to come down to the Torrens to enjoy the event. We lingered and watched them settle into their new home, amused to see a passing family offer them some bread in the first 15 minutes of their freedom. Naturally, they weren't very interested - we prefer chick starter thank you!!!!!

The following weekend I took our children back there in the hope of seeing them - 11 year old carer armed with left over chick starter!! To our delight they were all together, sunning themselves on rocks near the bridge, about 20 metres from where we released them!

They happily came up to our kids for chick starter and there was a joyful reunion.

A couple of weeks later I was in the area and popped down for a look. I couldn't recognise the black ducks, but the three wood ducks were still there together. If you go for a stroll along Linear Park, take a handful of chick starter and you may see them near a bridge close to the ABC.