A Duck Named Spot

When we first moved into our home there was only one Muscovy duck in our neighborhood and it lived on the little lake across from our house. The entire neighborhood felt that one Muscovy duck was more than enough. So no one fed it or allowed it on their property. I thought this Muscovy duck was very ugly and soon named it Scarface. If Scarface would wander onto our property, Birdman of Boca or our young daughter would chase him off. It was good exercise for them but didn't keep Scarface from coming back.

     Over the years new people moved into the neighborhood. With each new family came less resistance to having Muscovy ducks hanging about. In fact many of the new people started feeding the ducks and encouraging them to visit their yards. Of course, after a few weeks of the ducks fertilizing their yards they realized why the rest of us discouraged visits. Unfortunately by then the ducks were used to regular feedings by humans.

      We also began working on our backyard, which is a story for another time. Some of the changes we made was to add a little pond to it.  Well, the Muscovy ducks absolutely love that pond. As a result, Birdman of Boca and our daughter finally gave up trying to keep them off our property.  We would not feed the ducks, though, until I met Spot.

     Spot was a young Muscovy duck so full of love and innocence.  He would hang out in our backyard and watch me.  If I walked outside Spot was immediately by my side wagging his little tail.  He'd follow me anywhere just like a little puppy.  One day I called "Spot.  Come here." to him.  He ran from the other side of the yard right up to me and stopped to wag his tail.  He stole my heart that day. From that day forward his name was Spot and he answered to it faithfully.

     It never ceases to amaze me how love, patience and a touch of kindness can change things.  Here a young duck showed me love (by wanting to be with me), patience (by waiting for me to acknowledge him) and kindness (showing me he was happy to see me with a wag of his tail).  Birdman of Boca and I are happy to say that we have gone from not allowing ducks on our property to being claimed by five wonderful Muscovy ducks.