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Why Did The Ducks Cross The Road? To Get To The Bagel Store
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 14, 2021
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Doug Gordon
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 14, 2021
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Between the subways and the plastic debris, being an urban duck isn't all it's quacked up to be. (Maybe that's why the city's most famous duck fled.) But there are some upsides—like if you want some bread, you don't have to just awkwardly hang around park benches waiting for an elderly person to roll up with a bag full of crumbs. You can just be like any other New Yorker, get your whole ducking family together, and head over to your local bagel spot.
That's what one mama duck and her eight ducklings did around 1 p.m. today in Park Slope. Doug Gordon said he was in front of MS51 on 5th Avenue between 4th and 5th streets when he noticed a bunch of parents and kids all laughing and pointing.
"These ducks emerged from beneath an NYPD school safety van," he told Gothamist. "They went right out into the street. A couple of us jumped out to stop traffic so they didn't get run over, and then they got to the other side. It was adorable, a real Brooklyn-steps-up sort of moment, New Yorkers taking charge."
And where did they go after crossing the street? Straight into the Bagel World Park Slope, of course.
"They were in there a couple minutes, but I didn't see what happened inside," Gordon said. "I don't know whether they decided to come out because they didn't see anything on the menu they liked, or if they were chased out."
Presumably it was the former, because as you can see in the video below, an employee from Bagel World threw some bread crumbs out to try to get the ducks to stay on the curb after they exited. Gordon and another man followed them across 4th Street to make sure cars slowed down to let them pass.
When Gordon returned a little later, he overheard people talking about the duck videos he had taken. "Someone said [they had] led them up to Prospect Park, so they got there safely," Gordon added. "They waddled into the woods, so it's a happy ending."
We should all be glad this didn't turn into a duckmergency requiring SWAT cops, as happened in 2019 when the NYPD was called in to recover three baby waterfowl who fell through a storm grate.
Tagged
park slope
wildlife
ducks
brooklyn
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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