A family of ducks snarled traffic on the East Clinton St. Bridge on a recent rainy May afternoon in Binghamton NY. A car stopped suddenly and then attempted to block two lanes and soon a Mallard with her brood were seen crossing the street, a heart-warming sight until they got to the other side. The mother easily hopped the curb but the ducklings were unable to manage the steep curb on the bridge. Run off from a downpour added peril to the scene as the water raced toward the storm sewer.
That’s when Allan Troxler came to the rescue. He ran out and picked each duckling up –all twelve of them—and gently placed them on the sidewalk next to their agitated mother. “I was a little worried that the mother might attack me, or the ducklings might run away, but everyone cooperated.” Troxler, of Durham NC, was in the area to assist in the design of the Jane Freeman exhibit, “Art, Money, Love: Jane Freeman 1871-1963” at the Cooperative Gallery 213 on State St. “It was one of those rare moments in life when you get to interact with Nature and I will never forget those lifting those little downy ducklings.”