Ducks On The Pond

Spring is finally here after a very long & cold winter. This is the time of year that Heritage Village here at Ag Heritage comes into its own. The flowers are in bloom, the leaves are coming out on the trees and the two ponds that border the Village are sporting "little ones"- ducklings. Each spring we have a family or two of ducks raised on the lakes around the Village. The mothers seem very much at home on the grounds and are often seen taking the "kids" out for a walk or on the grass sunning the family. I've noticed the islands in the ponds are used by the mother ducks for refuge while visitors are walking around the Village, but just as often I've seen buses and motorbikes stopping to let the "families" cross the road as mother duck excerise the family.

Visiting school groups often have their morning break in the Village by the ponds and I sometimes wonder if the proud "mother ducks" that come waddling by with their little ones aren't "presenting" their families for the guests.

The Fonterra bus subsidy is still available to visiting schools. Fonterra will pay from 50 to 90 percent of the cost of hiring a bus to come out to the Agricultural Heritage Museum and furnish a morning snack. The "duck viewing" is thrown in for free.