[TN-Bird] Duck v. Monk

In my other incarnation, I am a docent at the Memphis Zoo & Aquarium.  One of 
my duties there is participation in a behavioral study of a colony of 3 male 
and one female Sulawesi macaque monkeys.  Today I arrived at the macaque 
exhibit to find a hapless mother wood duck swimming around in the moat 
followed by eight just-out-of-the-box ducklings.  Evidently, she had been 
trying to reach the adjacent waterfowl pond and had made a wrong turn.  Since 
there is at least a 3.5 foot drop from the public area to the moat, it was 
evident that the only way the babies were going to get out was through the 
monkeys' play area.  To complicate things, whenever they got too close to the 
bank, Imp, a five year old male macaque, would rush the little family; 
leading to frantic fluttering by the mother and rapid pitter-paddling away by 
the babies.  At some point, the mother bird flew out of the moat and 
disappeared.  This left the baby birds with no exit and no leadership.  At 
about this time, a valiant crew of zookeepers arrived with long-handled nets. 
 In less than 10 minutes, all of the ducklings had been secured.  During this 
excitement, the mother bird re-appeared on the public walk.  I trust that a 
happy reunion ensued in the non-public area and that the family was escorted 
to safer waters.

Van Harris
Millington, TN

=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
        jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx      (423) 764-3958
=========================================================

Other related posts: