One of the more random pleasures I find in my job is looking at the wildlife along the roads where I drive and navigate. Whether it is happily waving at horses and donkeys and alpacas along the way, or looking at the behavior of birds and cats and dogs, there are a lot of times where I have the opportunity to see animals engaging in somewhat natural behavior while I roam about following an obscure path. Today in McMinnville I saw something I had seen strikingly in Tualatin as well, and that is a mother duck walking along a street with a bunch of adorable little ducklings in what would appear to be at first to be inhospitable territory for a duck.

For example, the most unusual place I have seen a duck was the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant in a busy mini-mall. Of course, it probably helped that the restaurant in question did not serve any duck dishes (then again, few restaurants do, although duck is pretty tasty), but it was odd to see a mother duck waddling ahead of about a dozen adorable little ducklings, all of them seemingly oblivious to the danger that they were in. Likewise, the mother duck and her little ducklings that I saw today walking near prowling cats and trying to jump up curbs on the side of the road that were about as tall as they were also seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they were in danger where they were.

It is fascinating to watch animals in a world and to recognize the hazards for them. As human beings, we sometimes tend to be conscientious about the life that is around us (this might be more true in some places than in others). I tend not to wish harm on any creature, even those creatures which have the potential to cause harm, and so unless an animal is killed to feed my appetite, or I have to defend myself against it, I generally look humanely on the creatures that I come into contact with. It just so happens that little ducklings are among the cutest, both because their waddling is so awkward on land (perhaps I can identify just a bit with their awkward cuteness) as well as the fact that they seem to be so calm and unhurried in the way they go about their business.

Ducks live in a dangerous world, after all, even if the mean streets of McMinnville are not as dangerous as many areas where ducks roam. This world in general can be a dangerous place. The large amount of vultures I have seen out in the countryside, including vultures devouring a deer that was roadkill, testifies to the fact that there are plenty of scavengers to be found. And still the ducks waddle around peacefully, even away from the parks where they are their most safe. In watching the cute animals somewhat out of their natural habitat, wishing them well in dealing with the obstacles and dangers in their path, I could not help but ponder how much those ducks resembled other creatures who are not nearly so cute as they waddle awkwardly in strange and dangerous terrain. For while ducklings can be forgiven for their naivite, surely some of us are expected to know better.