A True Duck Story  From San Antonio ...     
   
  Something really  cute happened in downtown San Antonio this week.   Michael R.
is now an accounting  clerk at Frost Bank and works downtown  in a second story
 office  building.  Several weeks ago,  he watched a mother duck choose the  concrete awning  outside his window as the unlikely place to  build a nest above the sidewalk.

The  mallard laid ten eggs in a nest in the  corner of the planter that is perched over   10  feet in the air.  She dutifully kept  the eggs warm for weeks, and Monday   afternoon  all of her ten ducklings  hatched. 

Michael worried all  night how the momma duck was going to get  those babies safely off their perch
in  a busy, downtown, urban environment to take  to water, which typically happens in the  first 48
hours  of a duck hatching.  Tuesday morning,  Michael watched the mother duck encourage  her
babies  to the edge of the perch with  the intent to show them how to jump  off!

The mother flew down below  and started quacking to her babies above. In his  disbelief Michael
watched as the  first fuzzy newborn toddled to the edge  and astonishingly leapt into thin air, crashing  
onto the  cement below.  Michael couldn't stand to  watch this risky effort.  He dashed out of  his office
and ran  down the stairs to the sidewalk where the  first obedient duckling was stuporing near its  mother
from the near fatal  fall.

As the second one took the  plunge, Michael jumped forward and caught it with  his bare hands
before it hit  the concrete... safe and sound, he set it by  the momma and the other stunned sibling,  
still  recovering from its painful leap.

One by one the  babies continued to jump.  Each time  Michael hid under the awning just to  reach
out in the nick of time as the  duckling made its free fall.  The downtown  sidewalk came to a standstill.

Time  after time, Michael was able to catch the  remaining 8 and set them by their approving  mother.

At this point  Michael realized the duck family had only made  part of its dangerous journey.
They had 2  full blocks to walk across traffic,  crosswalks, curbs, and pedestrians to get to  the
losest  open water, the San Antonio River .   The  on looking office secretaries and several   San
Antonio police officers joined in.   They brought an empty copy paper box  to collect the babies.

They  carefully corralled them, with the mother's  approval, and loaded them in  the container.
Michael held the box  low enough for the mom to see her brood.   He then slowly navigated
through  the downtown streets toward the San  Antonio River .  The mother waddled behind  
and kept  her babies in sight.

As they reached the river,  the mother took over and passed him, jumping into  the river and
quacking loudly.  At  the water's edge, he tipped the box  and helped shepherd the babies toward  
the water  and to their mother  after their adventurous ride.

All ten  darling ducklings safely made it into the water  and paddled up snugly to momma.  

Michael  said the mom swam in circles, looking back  toward the beaming bank bookkeeper,  
and  proudly quacking.