Mallards Enjoying a Winter Day Along Art Farm's Sunny Creek

Mallards at Carlsbad Art Farm's Sunny Creek

Pictured here are four mallard ducks swimming at Sunny Creek (aka Agua Hedionda Creek) at Carlsbad Art Farm yesterday. To get this shot I had to sit down on our trail with a long-range lens on motor-drive, and be very quiet and patient for a good long time, while I waited for them to swim by.


At one time I raised rescued orphaned mallards as a licenced California Wildlife Rehabilitator through the wonderful San Diego-based nonprofit Project Wildlife. Project Wildlife trains teams of volunteers to rescue many dozens of species of local birds and animals that are brought into their care center after being found injured or orphaned. Each team specializes in an animal. In my case I chose ducks because we had the outdoor space for a pre-release flight cage, and also because I had a young child and didn't want to risk injury by rescuing an animal that might bite, scratch, or carry disease. Rehabilitators learn to care for and feed the wildlife that come into our care without taming them as the goal is to release them back into the wild. The less human contact the better. Our ducks, sometimes 30 at a time, were raised in the pre-release flight cage until their flight feathers matured. We then maneuvered them into large dog carriers and trucked them to Whelan Lake, a 73-acres bird sanctuary in Oceanside. I like to think these birds might be the offspring of some of the birds I raised, as ducks will come back to their breeding ground. Art Farm wasn't where my rescued ducks were born, but it is where they were raised from chicks to adulthood.


Now I'm looking forward to seeing the spring ducklings navigating our creek!

Second Annual Project Wildlife Baby Shower Event

If you enjoy cute baby animals and birds, and supporting wildlife rescue and conservation, don't miss Project Wildlife's Second Annual Wildlife Baby Shower this coming Saturday, March 19, 2011. The event begins at 10 A.M. and continues to 4 P.M.

Project Wildlife, a non-profit dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned and injured wildlife, is located in San Diego at 887-1/2 Sherman Street, just off Sea World Drive Exit 21, toward Tecolote Road.

The event is free to the public and no reservations are necessary. Visitors will be treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of Project Wildlife's intake center, meet many of Project Wildlife's animal ambassadors, enter drawings for great prizes, sample cuisine from the Cohn restaurant group's mobile food truck, "Ms. Patty Melt," and shop for arts and crafts all hand-made by Project Wildlife's army of dedicated volunteers.

Carlsbad Art Farm Owner/Director Perrin Weston Coman is a former Project Wildlife home rehabilitator on the duck team.

Care Center tours are not recommended for pregnant women or immune compromised individuals. For all the information you need to attend the event, or about Project Wildlife, click here.