lucky duck update
I was helping our local bird expert (yes, she really is an expert) find her missing article for the newspaper (yes, it was about birding) this week when she broadened my knowledge about duck chicks. She said they practically all look alike and wondered why I had decided the abandoned one I found was a mandarin. I told it her it was the first photo I spied that looked just like it. Within 5 minutes she showed me 3 more species (via google/images) that also looked just like it. So I stand corrected. Marion Ulmer suggests that the chick is likely a wood duck or a mallard. I'm sure she is right. I hope to get an update on it's condition tomorrow at the Friday Farmer's Market and will post a report. See? It's not too hard to admit you're wrong.
Whatever she is, she is a beauty! Good on you for having taken the initiative to save her.
I always feel terrible afterwards when I pass by an unusual circumstance where I was unsure about getting involved. Terrible that I kept my head stuck up my own a$$ and was thoughtless of others. "Could I have helped that lady out?" "Did she have a cell phone to call a tow truck?" "Is she being missed by someone while she sits waiting in her car by the road?" This one duckling feels like it makes up for a few misses.