Botany Pond features in Chicago Maroon

About two weeks ago, I was interviewed by Natalie Earl, a reporter for the student newspaper The Chicago Maroon. The topic: Botany Pond, its restoration, and its ducks. They put out a story yesterday in the “Grey City” section of the paper, a story that includes pictures of Esther and Mordecai as well as information about ducks nesting on ledges.

I am somewhat embarrassed as I am mentioned too often, in my view, and others who contributed, including the members of Team Duck and the people in Facilities, aren’t mentioned. In fact, although I and other members of Team Duck have worked with Facilities to make suggestions for the pond, and to turn on the Duck Cam (that will happen), the changes that have and will happen are due to the beneficence of Facilities. There are other changes I cannot mention now, but I will let you know when the Duck Cam is turned on.

Ms. Earl did get everything right, though I’m embarrassed to be characterized as the self-appointed “Duck Master” (it’s “Duckmeister”!).  You can read by clicking below, where you’ll see new photos of Esther and Mordecai. And I’ll recount a story below:

From Earl’s article:

To those who are wondering, “How do the ducklings get down from the second-story window ledge?” the answer is simple: they jump! Most of them can jump straight into the water, and those that do hit the ground land on a cushion of grass. Having monitored this process many times, Coyne claims that the ducklings seem to recover just fine and waddle themselves the rest of the way over to the pond.

There was one time though that Coyne had to intervene. In 2020 Dorothy and Honey were competing for space at Botany Pond.

Dorothy claimed space in the west windows of Erman Biology Center, above the patch of grass between the pond and the building, while Honey built her nest in the east windows of the building, 30 feet above stone pavement.

At Coyne’s urging, former University President Robert Zimmer directed a facilities team to put a duckling trampoline beneath the nest. That year’s duckling-hatching day was so harrowing that the Chicago Tribune wrote it was “as action-packed as an Avengers movie,” with “death-defying leaps from tall buildings! Violent feuding! A fired gun!” [That was the great Mary Schmich, who wrote three pieces on Honey for the Trib.)

Coyne told the Maroon he’s glad to have just one pair to watch out for this year.

Here I am feeding Honey in the good old days (I suspect she’s no longer alive), wearing my mask during the pandemic.  And below that is my favorite photo of Honey, which I call the “soccer ball” picture.

I will soon have exciting news, though, about memorializing this unforgettable mallard. Stay tuned.