OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Wild ducks will make their way to Lake Cunningham, near Highway 36 and 96th Street in Omaha, but domestic ducks sometimes show up there, too. Unable to fend for themselves completely, that's where our neighbors come in.
- Scott Hunter is known as the lake's Duck Whisperer. He and his wife, Eileen, are among the crew who feed the ducks specialty chow several times a week.
- A healthy diet is one concern for domestic ducks in the wild, but predators and severe winter weather are, as well.
- "Unfortunately, right around this time, people get ducks and chicks for presents for Easter. And they get big and smelly and they don't want 'em anymore. So I guess some come down here and think they'll be better off here," Scott Hunter explained about the domestic ducks.
Continue reading for the broadcast transcript.
A woman named Maureen told us about Scott Hunter. She described him as the Duck Whisperer at Cunningham Lake.
What 3 News Now discovered?
"Duckos! Duckos!," Hunter shouted.
He doesn't whisper so much.
"Duckos! C'mon duckos!," he continued shouting.
His tactics do work.
"Here they come. Good boys," he encouraged the two domestic ducks named Itty Bitty and Drako.
Hunter comes with his wife several days a week to ensure the ducks' survival.
Two other ducks, named Cheese and Quackers, did not survive a few winters back.
"Every piece of the lake froze and the coyotes and the eagles got to them. It was horrible," Hunter recalled.
He's since saved three domestic ducks: Gargantia, Bossy and Little Wing. They were re-homed at farms in North Omaha and Elkhorn.
As much as he enjoys seeing them at the lake, he wishes only the wild ducks were there.
"Unfortunately, right around this time, people get ducks and chicks for presents for Easter. And they get big and smelly and they don't want 'em anymore. So I guess some come down here and think they'll be better off here.
I mean, they just love it. But, when the winter comes, that's the problem. If the lake completely freezes, they have nowhere to go," Hunter explained.
The couple and a woman named Susie Needham, who manages the kayaks, put in such time and their own money for specialty chow to ensure the ducks are cared for.
"When we first met them, when they got dropped off, they were real scraggly looking, their feathers were all bent up and stuff.
They just got to be so pretty looking. So shiny, green heads," Hunter observed.
Drako and Itty Bitty's celebratory shimmies after lunch seem to say, 'Thanks for looking out for us.'