Mother Duck Struck, Killed Crossing Road

May 16 - KGO (KGO) -- The springtime joy of watching a mother duck escort her babies across the street ended badly Tuesday. Now six ducklings are without their mother. It happened at a busy intersection in Walnut Creek, at North Main and Parkside Drive. It was a tough thing to watch, but several people jumped in to help.

For a moment, business as usual came to a grinding halt at the intersection.

Miriam Ceballos, witness: "Oh, I thought it was cute, because I was like, 'I want to go see them. I was watching them the whole time from the stop light."

Miriam Ceballos says the mother and her six ducklings were actually waddling down the cross walk on a green light.

Miriam Ceballos, witness: "Traffic is stopped everywhere."

But to everyone's horror, one vehicle took a left-hand turn.

Miriam Ceballos, witness: "He hit the mother, and the little ones happened to be behind the mother and the tires just cleared them."

Witnesses say the car took off, leaving the mother duck dead in the crosswalk, with the duck's kids on the corner crying.

The six ducklings were escorted to safety by a construction worker, a store clerk, and several others who corralled them into a storm drain. But one of them escaped down the tube. Police ordered the grate closed.

Richard Graham, witness: "I just thought about this poor little chick all day long."

Richard Graham came back to the grate. Shameless as he was, he called out to the duck for several minutes, trying to locate it.

Richard Graham, witness: "Quak, quak, quak. Must have taken off. Poor little guy."

Experts at Walnut Creek's Lindsay Wildlife Museum, where the ducklings were taken, say adult ducks find safer nesting, in residential areas under shrubs.

Sandy Fender, Lindsay Wildlife Museum: "And actually hatch the eggs in the yard. People don't even see them until the ducks have hatched and come walking down the yard."

And when the flightless ducklings are born, the mother walks them to the nearest canal or creek -- even if it means walking through a busy intersection.

The Lindsay Wildlife Museum already had 16 other ducklings before these arrived.

We're told raccoons travel under city via the sewage system. So it's likely the duckling will meet up with one, and natural selection will take its place.

Experts say nesting ducks are attracted to homes with swimming pools, but if you set out inflatable swans or little motorized boats, it usually scares them off.

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