Waterfowl frustrate lakefront residents

Free-range ducks and geese? Not in my back yard, homeowners say.

By ANDREW MEACHAM

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 9, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Clifford Hunter had just filled a plastic bag with grapefruit from a tree in his yard. He intended to give the citrus to his father-in-law, but some geese had other ideas.

"Those things attacked me," Hunter said matter-of-factly, gesturing to three large birds that were at that moment strolling as if invited to the edge of his screened-in porch. "I'd shake the bag at them, and then they'd charge at me.

"Those geese belong on a farm, not here," Hunter said.

Homeowners along the banks of Kelley Lake, between 40th and 42nd avenues N and 20th and 21st streets, have a lot to say about the ducks and geese roaming in their back yards.

"The frustration level is high," said Carol Bushart, president of the Harris Park Neighborhood Association. "Everyone has put up and put up with it."

They have put up with garden plants crushed through feeding and nesting, eggs distributed in not-so-secret spots, and other things they would rather not know even about, much less step in.

"And the noise (the ducks) make is unbelievable," Bushart added.

An appeal to the city last summer resulted in a handful of cages donated to the besieged residents. But getting the ducks into the cages and choosing a lake to take them to was up to the neighbors. A rendition of Keystone Kops ensued. The neighbors hunted by land and sea, commissioning a boat in an effort to drive the water fowl ashore and into captivity. The score at the end of the day read Ducks 1, Neighbors 0.

Such open skirmishes are rare, as residents and ducks fluctuate between an uneasy truce and guerrilla warfare.

On a recent Thursday morning, Les Hanna, of 4175 20th St. S, found -- and destroyed -- seven eggs among valued plants, bringing the total to about 50 eggs this year alone.

Across the lake, Naty Fulton is also concerned about the duck population. She says the numbers have gone down. She is in a position to know.

Every morning and evening, Fulton gets in her Ford Ranger and distributes cracked corn and bread to the ducks and geese she has all but adopted. One of her favorites, a female Mandarin duck named Patches, disappeared in February. "Patches was so different," said Fulton, a registered nurse who has been feeding the ducks since 1988. "Every time she saw my pickup she would come running and screaming."

Several years ago, Fulton bought 15 ducks from someone who had put up a sign that read: "Ducks for sale. Good for barbecue." Most are still alive.

But a head count of more than 50 ducks has dropped by half in recent years, and Fulton is worried. There is only one crested duck and one Mandarin. A few mallards and Pekin ducks travel with the pack. Most of the rest are Muscovies, a tough and tenacious breed.

"They're nasty," Fulton said. "And they're smart. I don't like them myself."

She darkens when reading from a journal entry about the morning of June 10, 1995, when she found 10 dead ducks and tire tracks by the lake. Just over a month ago, six ducks and one goose disappeared, she said.

That drops the goose population from seven to six. There are Peter, Paul and the gray goose Mary, along with their recent sidekick Kevin, whom Fulton rescued from Mirror Lake. Then there is Faith and Hope. It's always the four, and then the two, she said. Fulton laughed when asked if any of the geese had displayed aggressive behavior.

"Not to me," she said.

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