The mallard ducks of Sheboygan hold a special place for me. There are no ducks in Plymouth, there are only big smelly Canadian geese, who for some reason chose not to migrate till December, and Seagulls who hang out in the McDonald parking lot and eat french fries and are just general annoying. The Mallards on the other hand, are pretty passive in my experiences, and always migrate on time.
I like seeing them on the streets because it is a reversal of roles in my mind, normally it is civilization intruding into the natural world, here it is the natural world intruding into the city in a subtle and largely unnoticed way. There is something so adorable to me about seeing a pair of Mallards swimming in puddle downtown in a rainstorm while people walk by.
It is also adorable to see a little male Mallard walking about with his little harem of 2 or 3 females behind him, and how he defends them from the obnoxious seagulls.
It is also a definite sign of spring to me, the seagulls are always around leaching food off of civilization, and geese leave later and later every year and come back earlier earlier every year. The Geese are alot more resultant then the ducks, they can scrounge up food in the grass when the water is frozen. I don't think the ducks can do that, I think they mostly live off fish, and they are alot smaller and cannot stand the temperatures that the geese and gulls can.
They also reminds me of middle school, my best friend in middle school kept ducks and showed them in the fair every fall, the same kind too, Mallard ducks. Him and his sister kept Sponge Bob and Patric for many years until a fatefully midnight snack by some raccoons.
I haven't seen any ducks yet, but im waiting. For both the ducks and spring.
