Now here’s something you don’t see every day: After shopping for groceries at Safeway yesterday, right before I got to my car, I saw this:
Now I wonder why on earth these Mallards would want to sit in a parking lot? There’s no water very close by, but the river isn’t very far away either and I know there are plenty of better places for ducks than a supermarket parking lot!
Others soon discovered the ducks as they came out of the store. I was concerned by all the cars pulling in and out so near them – but actually I was probably more in danger of being hit than the ducks were; after all, they can fly. 🙂
By the time I had my groceries loaded in the car and was prepared to leave, there was a small crowd gathered near the ducks. Then I realized what could be a good reason why, in fact, those ducks would choose to be there. A rather large woman, holding a rather obese little girl, was throwing orange crackers to the ducks, who were greedily gobbling them up. It gave me a sort of sick feeling. What are we doing to our wildlife? Getting them addicted to bad food the way we ourselves are? What’s not good for us is certainly not good for them. –Which makes this a rather sad story. 🙁