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June 8, 2005
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
The ducks rule the pond and yard, but nobody
seems to mind. In fact, they've become part of the family.
The quackers came into Lori and John Kendall's
lives almost by accident. The couple
bought more than eight acres between Vancouver and Ridgefield several months
ago. Formerly residents of Salmon
Creek, the couple wanted to raise their two children, Lucas, 11, and
Christina, 9, in the country. The
property, "which needed a lot of work," had two unoccupied ponds, Lori said,
but the water didn't stay unoccupied for long.
Friend Chris Driggins who runs a bird rescue
program in Vancouver, asked the Kendalls if they'd adopt a peacock -- and
they did. The peacock, however, did not
get along with the family German shepherd, and the big bird ran away.
"That wasn't a happy ending", Lori said.
Their friend didn't give up on the Kendalls. |
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"He asked if we'd take an abandoned duck," Lori
said. "At first I was very apprehensive, but as soon as I saw Bob, I was
hooked and thought I'd give it a try."
Bob, a tiny ball of yellow, had survived a fall from Multnomah Falls. The
rest of his family perished when they swam too close to the cascading water.
"We cared for him in the house;
we took him everywhere," Lori said. "Now, he's an enormous, beautiful male
mallard."
Next came Dottie, an odd duck
with a black-and-white spotted head. The Kendalls learned that Dottie was a
male, but the name stuck.
After getting to know their
male ducks, the Kendalls adopted a female with a broken wing and three
babies.
Mom Duck died, but the three
babies have grown up to be mallards.
The five live in a "pretty
small pond, "but they aren't shy.
"The ducks have made friends
with out neighbors," Lori said. "They walk up the road to our neighbor's
house and beg for food."
The feathered family members
have also found a set of nearby duplexes, and Lori said some days she sees
one duck at each duplex, waiting for food.
Feathered friends and guests
occasionally fly in to the pond to share the cracked corn and other goodies
distributed by the Kendalls.
"Visiting ducks pop in and
out," Lori said, "and Canada geese drop in off and on, but they don't stay."
The five Kendal ducks,
however, appear to have found a permanent home.
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