Jenna Hunnef, Special to the Londoner

The arrival of orphaned mallard ducklings at Salthaven in the spring and summer is as familiar and perpetual as the changing of the seasons that bring them here.

There are many reasons why dozens of these down-covered puffballs are admitted to our facility each year, including accidental separation from their families. Mallard ducks often have large broods of up to 13 babies whose defencelessness and minuscule proportions often leave them vulnerable to dangers in the busy urban environments where many of them live. It is not uncommon for a tiny straggler to become separated from the rest of the bunch.

This was the fate of one mallard duckling who would not have survived on her own without the intervention of a kind-hearted individual who brought her to Salthaven four years ago.

Once at Salthaven, the duckling undertook the same journey all of our orphaned mallards experience. She was placed in an incubator to be kept warm, and then, after a little over a week, she moved into an outdoor flight pen along with her fellow ducklings. By mid-summer, she was flying on her own and able to take care of herself, but likely stuck around until the end of the season before departing with her fellow mallards.

Given the commonplace nature of this duck’s origins, it’s easy to overlook the uniqueness of her story as one of the dozens of mallard ducklings raised at Salthaven each year, but what volunteers didn’t know then was that we hadn’t seen the last of her.

During the four years after what we assumed would be the mallard’s permanent departure, Salthaven’s volunteers went about their business raising and rehabilitating countless other mallards under similar circumstances. This mallard also went about her business — surviving the rigors of migration and the deadly aim of the hunter’s rifle until the time came for her to start a family of her own.

Mallards are very particular about where they nest. If you’ve ever wondered why mating pairs of mallards sometimes build their nests next to busy parkways, it’s because a high-traffic area functions as a barrier against their natural predators. Simply put, mallards seek out the safest location they can find to lay their eggs and raise their brood, and this mallard knew just the place to accomplish that goal.

Upon arriving at the clinic on an early spring morning earlier this year, Salthaven’s founder, Brian Salt, was surprised to discover a mother mallard duck waiting expectantly at the facility’s door along with her entourage of 11 ducklings. She promptly led her brood straight into an empty flight pen when she didn’t gain access to the clinic.

An inspection of the mother’s leg band not only identified her as the very same duckling that had grown up at Salthaven four summers ago, but also revealed that the pen she selected was the very same one in which she herself had been raised. The family has now been with us for the last few weeks, during which time the babies have grown considerably and are mingling comfortably with more than 50 other young mallards being raised at Salthaven this summer.

This mother duck returned to Salthaven to raise her family in a place that she knew was safe and secure. She had no control over what happened to her as a duckling four years ago, but her return to Salthaven with her own family in tow is a remarkable demonstration of this species’ agency and intelligence, leaving us all humbled and grateful to have been a part of this duck’s successful journey.

Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Centres are located in Mount Brydges, Ontario, and Regina, Saskatchewan. As a non-profit organization, we rely on your generous donations to feed, house and rehabilitate sick and injured wildlife. Please visit www.salthaven.org to learn how you can support Canadian wildlife. For help with an Ontario wildlife emergency, please call 519-264-2440.