Westside Samaritans

Before construction began, most of the domesticated ducks were caught and moved to a farm, while wild ducks and geese were left to fare for themselves.

However, some domesticated ducks eluded capture, Yankton resident John Conkling told the Press & Dakotan.

“There are actually ducks out there that have no common sense and no sense of the wild,” said Conkling, who lives near the park and likes to keep tabs on the aquatic birds during the winter.

“I made it my job to go down every day just to make sure they had something to eat. I got to the point where I could tell if they were hungry or not,” he said, adding that the artesian well that fed the pond in the winter kept a small area of the water from freezing.

That well was plugged temporarily to prevent water from running into the pond while renovation work was being done, Todd Larson, Yankton’s director of Parks & Recreation, told the Press & Dakotan.

“The parks staff have created a water bubbler to place in the north end of the pond that will keep water moving and therefore have an area that doesn’t freeze over,” he said. “(But), when we have extreme cold like we did at the end of December, the open water may disappear until the extreme cold breaks and warmer weather arrives.”

Any open water is there because of the activities of the population of domesticated ducks and geese at the park.

In the week leading up to Christmas, the region received a blast of Arctic air that brought with it 40-mile-per-hour winds and wind chills of -50°.

“The whole thing was frozen over, and I thought, ‘I’d like to see them have some water,’ so that’s when I put the post on (social media),” Conkling said.

After putting out the word that the ducks had no access to water, he was contacted by Justin Paulson, also of Yankton, who said he was working on getting some bales of hay to make a wind break for the ducks and that he would go to the pond that night and cut a hole in the ice.

“When ducks can’t drink, they don’t eat and it’s a snowball effect from there,” Paulson told the Press & Dakotan.

When he arrived at the park, the wind and cold were in full force.

“I had my waders on and I was bundled up pretty good,” he said. “But when it’s that cold, the saw instantly freezes (if you stop). You’ve got to throw it in the truck to thaw it out.”

While sawing, Paulson was covered with water and ice, Conkling said.

“After he was done sawing, he got a sledgehammer out and broke (the ice) up,” he said. “After he broke it up, he got out a shovel and scooped all the heavy ice out.”

The final step involved herding the ducks over to the hole to show it to them.

“Once they got there and realized, they just started swimming,” Conkling said. “Justin did all the work. Then he told me, ‘I am going to come back and saw another hole tomorrow because this one will freeze over during the night.’”

The next night, while making the second hole, Paulson was called away to a farm about 30 miles from Yankton to pick up the bales of hay which he would ultimately use to make a three-sided duck shelter with a plywood top, held in place with heavy rocks, Conkling said.

On the way back with the straw, Paulson’s pickup started having mechanical problems, forcing him to drive slowly or risk a breakdown, but he still returned to the pond that night to finish the work.

Why?

“Well, they’re ducks, and they can’t do it themselves,” he said.

The structure is still in place, getting full use from the ducks remaining at the park. Paulson said he plans to remove it as soon as it is warm enough.