So, I thought it would be nice to take Maddie to feed the birds at Flower Hospital, because Mo loves ducks. That was until we didn’t have enough bread for all of them.

It was a beautiful afternoon, especially near the shaded pond. Maddie and I strolled over to the decked area to sit on a bench and quietly feed the hungry little waterfowl. Everything was going as planned. Maddie was quaking away, attempting to communicate with our new feathered friends.

Little did we know, lurking in the shadows of a tall maple tree, was a monster neither of us would soon forget.

After a few minutes we noticed the group of ducks was growing. They could sense food in the air. The rustling of the bread bag was like a dinner bell. In no time, we were surrounded by ducks of all shapes and colors. Beautiful mallards, black and white spotted ducks, Canadian geese, white ducks, you name it, and they were there. And they were hungry.

I started to back away because of the overwhelming amount of blood thirsty birds. Our way out was interrupted by what I have named, El Diablo Duck. There he stood, tall as a giant, and flapping what appeared to be a 10 foot wing span. He squawked with angry determination. His loud battle cry sent chills down our spines. As he approached, we quickly switched directions and took our chances with the smaller and less frightening ducks.

El Diablo Duck anticipated our moves and managed to get between us and the parking lot.
Holding Maddie in one arm and a half a bag of torn up moldy bread in the other, I swung the bag like a mediaeval flail and charged Diablo Duck. He charged back, continuing to howl and flap. The large scar on his beak led me to believe this wasn’t his first fight.

At the last moment, I tossed the bag to my right and darted to the left in hopes of creating a distraction. Leaping over small innocent bystander birds, and dodging a few ducklings, we made it safely to the parking lot. The distraction worked! Diablo Duck took the bait!

As we made it to the car, sweating and nearly out of breath, I buckled Maddie into her car seat and gazed over the battlegrounds. No lives were lost, but they were forever changed. El Diablo stood proud as he feasted over his bounty. We made eye contact. It appeared as though he gave me a slight nod, approving me as a worthy adversary.