Getting her ducks in a row

June 27, 2024

By Kelly Lindner and Julien Devereux

AUSTIN — TxDOT workers have helped families encountering difficulties on the road many times, of course. But recently a few were able to help a very different kind of family in distress: a mother duck and her ducklings.

In May, security workers at TxDOT’s office building in Austin noticed five ducklings that had fallen down a storm drain, separated from their mother by the grate.

Local animal control wasn’t able to respond immediately, so TxDOT Support Services Facilities Coordinator Frank Bos asked around the TxDOT campus on Stassney Lane to find people willing to help.

Master plumber Jesse Cordell, HVAC specialists James Sprouse and Cornell Bryant, along with several other TxDOT employees, answered the call.

They were able to rescue two of the five ducklings by removing the grates and reaching down into the storm drain. But the other three ducks, startled by seeing their siblings grabbed, retreated down the pipes and out of reach.

But TxDOT’s duckling rescue team came up with an innovative solution.

“James and Cornell had the great idea to play some duck-noise audio from their cell phones, which was enough to lure the remaining babies back into the open where we were able to catch them using a small net,” Cordell said.

Once all five ducklings had been retrieved and safely protected in a cardboard box, the rescue team looked around the campus for their mother. They found her in a stormwater retention pond and reunited the happy family.

“I wish I had audio of the reunion,” Cordell said, “Because they got real noisy once they spotted mom, and she put on an amazing show rounding them back up.”

Since the rescue and family reunion, Cordell said he’s seen the ducks waddling and swimming in the creek that runs through the campus.

“They look like they’re doing good,” he said.