Skip to main content

From books to ducklings: The unconventional story of Daisy the duck

Daisy, a Mallard duck, walking her babies to the water in Barrie Ont in 2010. (Courtesy: Melissa Foster) Daisy, a Mallard duck, walking her babies to the water in Barrie Ont in 2010. (Courtesy: Melissa Foster)
Share

For a decade, it has been a tradition for Daisy, a Mallard duck, to lay her eggs at a local library in Barrie.

Daisy visits Barrie Public Library every spring season for roughly 28 days.

The staff says she always picks a spot in the rooftop garden downtown, usually in a planter where she’s off the ground and surrounded by flowers.

She is protected and provided fresh water by the library, which ropes off the area where she nests.

Over the past three years, Daisy has laid ten eggs, and all of them have hatched and reached the water safely.

Early in the morning, when the eggs are ready to hatch and leave the nest, the staff treks to the water.

They gather the babies in a box and bring them down to Heritage Park.

When the staff release the ducklings, they pick a place where they will be protected.

Daisy loves to fly or walk along with them to their farewell and departure.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

What a judge's gag order on Trump means in his hush money case

A gag order bars Trump from commenting publicly on witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the matter. The New York judge already has found that Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, repeatedly violated the order, fined him US$9,000 and warning that jail could follow if he doesn't comply.

The American paradox of protest: Celebrated and condemned, welcomed and muzzled

Americans cherish the right to assemble, to speak out, to petition for the redress of grievances. It's enshrined in the first of the constitutional amendments. They laud social actions of the past and recognize the advances toward equality that previous generations made, often at risk of life and limb. But those same activities can produce anger and outright opposition when life's routines are interrupted, and wariness that those speaking out are outsiders looking to sow chaos and influence impressionable minds.

Stay Connected