Beep & Teal

It’s been a rough COVID month. Let’s have a story about ducks.

Back in the day, I attended Cal State University, Northridge, working toward my bachelor’s degree in psychology. Part of my coursework included an animal behavior class that changed the trajectory of my career goals. I became fascinated with scientific methods and statistical observations of animals. This interest in animal research ultimately led to my behavioral studies at the Los Angeles Zoo and my positions there in education and as volunteer coordinator.

In the animal behavior class, students were each assigned a baby duckling as part of an imprinting experiment. I assure you that no ducks were harmed in the trials and, after their short stay in the animal lab, all the ducks went to live on the instructor’s family farm nearby, except one.

I was the only student who asked to keep my duck at the end of the assignment. I brought her home and named her Beep. She developed into a plump white Peking duck and became my best friend for the next seven years. She would lie in my lap with her head under my “wing” and followed me around while she grubbed for snails in the garden. Sometimes we swam in the pool together. We had great fun.

I worked part-time in that animal lab for about a year helping to care for the ducks as well as doves, rats, mice, hamsters and other critters. On the weekends when I cleaned cages and fed the animals I was alone. On one occasion, I had the great idea to set up a large plastic tub with water in the hallway that ran the length of the lab and let the ducks play while I tended to the other animals. And play they did; they splashed and dove into the smallest amount of water then ran back and forth, quacking. It was adorable to watch but it took me over an hour to round them all up and clean up their mess. I never tried that again.

Another seven years after Beep had died I was married and had two small boys. We were playing outside one day when all of a sudden plop! A duck dropped out of the sky and landed in our yard. We had no idea where she came from. She was a dark green iridescent color with splotches of black and white. Her face was red and fleshy. She was both beautiful and ugly at the same time and we later learned she was a Muscovy. Remembering fondly my beloved Beep, I decided to keep her as a pet and we named her Teal. When she hung out in the yard with us, though, she didn’t look for tasty snails to eat. She flapped her wings and chased the boys around the yard, nipping at their bottoms. I built her a large cage similar to what Beep had but she seemed very unhappy in it. She would take off and land over and over. She wanted to leave.

Before too long, I realized that it wasn’t right for us to keep Teal. I contacted Descanso Gardens to see if they might be interested since their pond had several Muscovy ducks living there. They told me that they didn’t take in stray animals but, because I worked at the zoo and as a professional courtesy, they made an exception. We placed Teal in a box and told her we were going to take her to her new home. We approached the lake area, placed the box sideways and she slowly walked into the water and swam away.

I like to believe that Teal lived out the rest of her years happy among the other ducks but we never really knew. She looked like every other duck there – beautiful, ugly and content.

Susan Bolan
susanbolan710@gmail.com