It was a chilly December afternoon in Michigan when Matthew and Theresa Lyson received a heart-stopping call for help. The founders and co-directors of Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary (MDRS) were preparing to shelter from the cold inside their warm home until they saw the attached picture of someone fluffy stuck in a freezing pond.
“The picture caught our hearts off guard, and our evening would be rerouted completely,” Lyson wrote on MDRS’ Facebook.
The message was from a Good Samaritan named Ed — a manager for a housing community in Caledonia, Michigan. Ed had befriended a pair of Pekin ducks living in the pond outside his main office over the summer, but the winter weather was now causing the water to freeze, and he grew concerned for the birds.
Ed had rescued one of the ducks the day before messaging MDRS but sadly couldn’t reach the second. The pond continued to freeze overnight, trapping the remaining duck in a shrinking circle of ice water.
Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary
“[I]n a 5-foot circle of unfrozen water … a fat little Pekin girl was spending her second night out in the blistering cold,” Lyson wrote. “She was in the middle and would not leave, not even [for] any type of food.”
The Lysons grabbed their kayak and the usual trappings when they saw Ed’s text, then promptly set off on a road trip across the state. They picked up one of their volunteers, Mike, along the way.
When they arrived, they realized word had spread about the duck’s predicament and that some community members were just as eager to help. One Good Samaritan, Kevin, was already working on breaking the ice when the Lysons got there.
Kevin successfully created an opening within the sheet of ice wide enough for a kayak to pass through, and the Lysons loaded theirs into the water with a plan.
“We had a plan to drive [the duck] to shore if I could just get her to go in the opposite direction of the kayak, from the open water that Kevin broke,” Lyson wrote.
Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary
But as they approached the duck, they realized there was still a sheet of impassable ice between her and the kayak. The rescue mission quickly came to a standstill.
“We were pretty much sitting there immobile, literally saying, ‘Here, ducky, ducky. Go that way, go that way!’” Lyson wrote.
Hours into the rescue mission, the Lysons and their volunteers were at a loss for how to rescue the duck. While they tried coming up with new approaches, the duck ended up surprising them with her own plan.
“After what seemed like quite a while out in the still, cold air, [the] ducky finally got the hint,” Lyson wrote. “Apparently thinking we were all silly, she went across the shortest portion of ice and started to go up on a land, one slow step at a time.”
Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary
Finally, the duck left her freezing circle of water and walked over the ice, close enough to land for someone to catch her. As the Lysons returned to shore in their kayak, Mike ran to the duck and carefully netted her. To his surprise, she didn’t even move when he approached.
“[S]he just stood still waiting,” Lyson wrote. “She apparently had her fun and was ready to go someplace safe and warm.”
The Lysons scooped the duck, whom they named Nancy Lee, into their arms and drove her home to their sanctuary. As they do with every duck they rescue, the Lysons vowed to take care of Nancy Lee for the rest of her life.
Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary
While she sadly couldn’t reunite with her previously rescued partner, who now lived hours away with Ed’s sister, Nancy Lee quickly settled into her new home. And she’s been thriving ever since.
“She was dusted with powder, cleaned up and spent the rest of the night in the comfort of our warm home,” Lyson wrote. “A fairytale ending!”
To help ducks like Nancy Lee get the care they need, you can donate to Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary here.
