Winter hit hard, fast, and much earlier than last year, leaving about 150 ducks at Cottonwood Island Park struggling to survive the winter.
Feeding our hungry fine-feathered friends are longtime volunteers Paul Cailleaux and Brock Bailey, who have been at it for about a decade.
“Consider the ducks pigs with wings,” Cailleaux laughed. “They gobble that feed down as fast as they can and are always looking for more.”
Keeping the wintering ducks alive at Cottonwood Island Park is a priority for Cailleaux and Bailey, volunteers from Ducks Unlimited Canada, as the duck population needs to stay healthy for next year's breeding season, but it takes the community to help provide the feed.
Bailey and Cailleaux started feeding the ducks just recently and they don’t mind the grunt work, but the out-of-pocket costs can add up quickly when you’ve got 150 extra mouths to feed. That's how many ducks they estimate don't fly south for the winter.
Generous donations have been the key to the success of the project to keep those ducks alive over the winter with Pacific Western Brewery donating thousands of pounds of barley and Four Rivers Co-Operative, at the old Spruce Capital Feeds location, providing the duck food and also taking donations from the public who want to help out.
Almost-daily visits to the park’s main entrance see Cailleaux and Bailey packing five-gallon buckets of feed out of the back of their pickup trucks. They take turns making their way down the riverbank at the bridge with bulky buckets in one hand, shovels in the other before whooshing the feed in magnificent arcs that see the feed spread far and wide.
Last season was a bit of a different story as both Bailey and Cailleaux had surgeries earlier this year and were unable to feed the ducks for the last few months of winter.
Gord Smith and wife Margaret took over duck-feeding duty for Cailleaux and Bailey and still visit the ducks often at Cottonwood Island Park as part of their routine while doing errands around town.
"I really want to thank Gord and Margaret for feeding the ducks when Brock and I couldn't as we were gimping around after my knee and Brock's hip were replaced at almost the same time earlier this year," Cailleaux said. "It's hard work and we really appreciate the help."
The dedicated volunteers Bailey and Cailleaux ask those bringing their dogs to the park to please keep them on leash to prevent them from chasing the ducks that need to save their energy for surviving the winter rather than avoiding a predator’s attack.
