One Stubborn Duck

I don’t know why weird things are always happening to me, but they do. Last week was no exception.

I was sweeping out my carport Wednesday morning when I noticed a car stopped in front of my house. Upon closer inspection, I realized he was stopped because there was a large Cormorant (Sea Duck) sitting in the middle of the street, not moving, blocking his way. This duck was huge, at least 3’ feet tall, with a slender curved neck, and a long sharp beak. I went to shoo him away but apparently, he was injured and couldn’t fly. In fact, he could barely walk so it was a struggle to get him over to the curb.

I went back to sweeping, but sure enough “Donald” hobbled right back into the middle of the street and sat down again. (I named him Donald in honor of our President because he obviously has his same stubborn streak.) I wasn’t sure what to do, so I got a beach towel to try to wrap him up and carry him back to the beach. However, when I tried to wrap him up in the beach towel, he jabbed his beak at me and slashed the back of my hand. With blood dripping, I gave up and walked back to my carport repeating that old saying in my head, “No good deed goes unpunished.”

I guess you could say I’m a little stubborn myself, so after thinking about it for a while, I decided to try one more to save this stubborn beast from being smashed flat in the street. I went inside and got a really large beach towel, walked up close to Donald, and threw it over the top of his head. It worked and as he struggled inside the beach towel, I was able to grab the four corners and start walking with him. Unfortunately, As I headed down my sidewalk towards the beach he managed to escape from the towel and started squawking at me. At that point, he stared me down, while I tried to explain that I was only trying to help him. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to appreciate my good intentions.

After shutting the gate and setting up some carboard boxes to block Donald from escaping, I called San Clemente Animal Control. They sent a young lady down within the hour and she showed up with an animal net and a special box to carry Donald away. However, when she got her first look at him, she was surprised by how large he was and had to go back to her truck and get a bigger box. I noticed that Donald didn’t seem to appreciate her help any more then he had mine, squawking and jabbing his beak at her the whole time.

That got me thinking about how sometimes when people need help, they are reluctant to ask. Think about it. If we stubbornly wait for someone to ask us for help, before we act, it just might be too late!

If you’re not sure what to do, ask yourself,

"What happens if I do nothing?”  

~ Robert Brault