On Tuesday afternoon ‘Lil Round duck, who we hatched out last spring but had leg problems, fell victim to a hawk while sitting at our pond on a warm sunny day.  While ‘Lil was never an exceptionally beautiful mallard, and had all kinds of issues with legs and wings, he was very loved in our family.  We will miss him greatly.

‘Lil became a member of our family when we hatched him out of an egg last April.  He had some type of niacin deficiency and his legs never developed correctly.  Able to move around on his elbows, ‘Lil managed to work his way around just fine.  In the wild, clearly he would not have survived.  Once his sibling ducks grew they would attack him, so he had to become part of our ‘flock.’  Living here and there in the house, garage, play house and spending warm days by the pond was how he spent most of his time.  Clearly, his legs were not his only problem, as he never actually grew proper ‘adult’ feathers, and could never really fly.  He could swim for a little while until his downy feathers became too wet to keep him afloat, and he loved to swim.  He seemed to be like a ‘real’ duck then.  ‘Lil had been on a few adventures—venturing as far as Atlanta, GA as a young duckling, and most recently accompanying our family on our annual Christmas carol. 

 

He lived nine months longer than he could have in the wild, but not nearly as long as we had hoped he’d be with us. 

Rest in peace ’Lil Round duck.