Friday kicked off “duck week” for Maria Colby.
Colby, who runs Wings of the Dawn wildlife rehabilitation center and bird sanctuary in Henniker, received four mallard ducklings saved on the highway by a Manchester man Friday. They weren’t her only intakes that day – she also took another duckling, one morning dove and three baby squirrels.
“That’s not that many,” she said Friday, standing in her kitchen, holding a baby squirrel just brought in by a local arborist.
The four ducklings made headlines after New Hampshire State Police sent a press release Friday detailing their rescue. Troop B received a phone call around noon “regarding ducklings in the roadway in the area of Exit 10 on Everett Turnpike in Merrimack.”
Don Wylks, of Manchester, stopped his car and was able to save four of the 10 ducklings that tried to cross the road. Though they commended Wylks for his action (and took his photo), state police reminded other drivers to not stop and get out on the highway for wildlife, but rather to call law enforcement for help.
Trooper Mark Dore brought the four ducklings to Colby, who met him at a Concord Park and Ride. Late Friday afternoon at her Henniker facility, Colby was just settling the ducklings into their new, temporary home in a blue rubbermaid bin full of shavings.
“They’ll be with us through the summer,” she said. Eventually they’ll move into a larger, outdoor cage, and then will get to wander around outside near a stream behind Colby’s home that will be protected by overhead netting.
Between July and August, the netting will be taken away – and the ducks will be free to go.
Colby’s phone rang dozens of times Friday, and she said various wildlife come in groups as their species begins having young in spring. This week, she said, was “duck week.”
They typically get into trouble when they wander away, said Colby.
“Mom has a lot of babies – she doesn’t count. You usually get ducks that don’t follow mom and end up getting picked up by us,” she said.
And then they go to Colby. In between her caring for baby ducks and racoons, squirrels and bunnies, owlets and other birds, she said all the work – there’s only more as summer approaches – is worth it. It all leads up to the moment in several months when, grown and able to fend for themselves, the ducks can fly away.
“It’s rewarding for me to do it,” she said.
(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)