Inflatable Duck

This giant inflatable duck on Electron Drive in Jeffersontown's Bluegrass Industrial Park may not be as scary as the Inflatable Ape or as surreal as the Inflatable Cone, but it sure is yellow.

Ducky Derby Update

I received a nice email from Ashley Stroud regarding yesterday's post about the Ducky Derby, in which I expressed concern about the risk of the plastic duckies entering the environment:

As the Special Events Coordinator for Harbor House of Louisville, I was extremely pleased to see that you had written a blog about this year’s Ken-Ducky Derby. We are excited to gain publicity for our signature fundraising event, as well as gain publicity for the services that we provide to Louisville-area adults with mental disabilities.

In response to your plastic concerns, you will be pleased to know that we are sponsored by Heritage Environmental Services, who set up gates that serve as our “race track” and contain our ducks in one specific area on the river. All of our ducks are recovered immediately. You will also be pleased to know that all of our ducks are recycled from other duck races around the country. We receive them a few weeks before the Ken-Ducky Derby from other duck race locations, and after our race has concluded, we, in turn, ship them to other races that have yet to be held.

Thank you very much for adopting your duck! I would encourage all of your readers to adopt a duck (or a whole flock!). You can also adopt online at http://www.duckrace.com/louisville.

Louisville Zoo's Rare Duck

From a Louisville Zoo press release:

Louisville Zoo recently hatched a Madagascar teal duckling, one of the world’s rarest members of the duck family and a species seriously threatened by extinction. There are only about 2,000 Madagascar teal ducks left in the wild (in Madagascar) and 200 in zoos.

The duckling, named Gerry, was born May 20 and is the first Madagascar teal ever born at the Louisville Zoo.

The egg was found by a keeper while doing daily routine cleaning after the mother had abandoned the egg. It was immediately taken to an incubator in the Zoo’s bird rearing area. The incubation period for a Madagascar teal is 27-28 days. Soon, Louisville Zoo Bird Curator Gary Michael heard the duckling peeping inside the shell. Duplicating what the mother might do in the wild with her beak, Michael rubbed his fingernail on the shell for hours letting the duckling know someone was there. After the duckling worked to try and break out of its shell without success, Michael poked a hole in the shell to assist it.

“Some birds die in the process of trying to break out of their shell,” Michael said. “After hours passed and it did not break out, I stepped in to assist. We couldn’t afford to lose this highly endangered duck. At the Zoo we not only try to replicate the natural world, we work to be better than nature with our unmatched care and husbandry.”

The main factors causing the Madagascar teal to be endangered in the wild are the lost of habitat, degradation of wetlands and hunting.

The duckling is currently off exhibit in a bird rearing area and is eating grain, hard boiled eggs, insects and vitamin supplements three times a day. Michael has also set up mirrors in the duckling’s area to form the visual illusion of other ducklings for socialization and to minimize the imprinting on him and other Zoo keepers.

Ride the Ducks

"Quack-tacular fun", it says here. Basically, it's a sightseeing tour of the area taken by boat, which sounds like fun to me, but I actually had previously assumed the whole deal was some sort of action water-ride thing. The website says, "Your Captain will en-tour-tain you with stories of past and present. Learn about Newport and Ohio history, the Ohio River, its famous personalities and its impact on the state and our nation."

The Ride The Ducks attraction's starting point - "Duck Central", they call it - is located at the Newport on the Levee Entertainment Complex outside Newport Aquarium.

Ducky Derby

I'm not sure why there are two different "Ken-Ducky Derby" events each year, but what the heck, it doubles your ducky fun. Barbourville had theirs back in June, and Louisville will have its 6th Annual Ken-Ducky Derby at Waterfront Park on Saturday, September 26th, 2009.

Basically, here's how it works: you "adopt" a duck by going to one of the race's sponsor outlets and getting your adoption papers for it. It's $5 for a single duck, $25 for a "Quack Pack" of six, $50 for a "Big Quack Pack" of fourteen, and $100 will get you an entire flock of thirty ducks. Adoption sponsor locations include Kroger, Republic Bank, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Coach's Fitness, Bearno's Pizza, Pat's Steakhouse and Joe's Crab Shack. Then they turn at least 20,000 numbered plastic duckies into the river and you hope your quacker's number comes up the winner at the finish line.

According to their press release:

"The real winners of The Ken-Ducky Derby are the participants of Harbor House of Louisville, a not-for-profit certified development and training facility for adults with developmental disabilities. In addition to raising over $100,000 each year for Harbor House programs, the Ken-Ducky Derby helps increase the community's awareness of the agency and the critical need for the services that it provides."

As an anti-plastics activist who is especially concerned about plastics getting into our world's waterways, the idea of turning loose tens of thousands of plastic ducks into the river makes me cringe. But this year, I will experimentally adopt one of these ersatz mallards and will be attendance at this duck race to see exactly what happens to the rest of the ducks, and how they get them back out of the river once the fun's done. I would hate to see all this duck-dunking contribute to the already catastrophic armada of lost plastic ducks polluting the world's oceans, thanks to the Chinese Friendly Floatees company.


(I wouldn't object to winning the Ducky Derby's grand prize, a 2009 Honda Civic from Sam Swope, though.)