COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — A wayward duck is getting help from nearby businesses after she decided to build her nest in the parking lot outside their stores.
The Muscovy duck has been guarding a nest of eggs in a parking lot flower bed near Houston Levee and Wolf River Boulevard for close to a month now.
Mae Lowery, an employee at Goodwill, says she was connected to the duck since she first saw her nearly a month ago.
“At first she didn’t look real but when I walked up on her she turned around,” Lowery said. “She looked at me and I looked at her and I just started calling her ‘Momma.'”
She says she feeds Momma and speaks to her every day.
Logan Williams, an employee at Mulan Asian Bistro, says that he and another worker along the strip have also taken to the duck.
“Us at Mulan and then Goodwill, we have both kind of tasked together, as well as one lady from the nail salon around the corner. We’ve all, I guess, together kept it fed and watered,” Williams said.
Williams says he crushes up fortune cookies for Momma so they’ll be small enough for her to eat.
“It actually got to where she tries to catch the cookies,” Williams said.
Lowery says that recently the duck has become more protective. She’s concerned the duck’s eggs might not hatch, but still hopes they’ll hatch soon.
“Some people she kind of hisses at, and like this morning she was irritable,” Lowery said.
Muscovy ducks usually incubate their eggs around 35 days. Momma has a current count of 12 eggs, which is about average for the duck.
Williams says that no matter what happens, he has contact information for someone to help with the duck if she needs it.
“That way if the eggs do hatch, she can come get the babies so that when they cross the street they don’t get run over and if they don’t then she’ll help us, I guess, remove the eggs and take care of the duck.”
