Traffic tie-up in Dayton

The people in the Town of Dayton are protective of their town ducks. Several signs beside the road read “Watch out for ducks!” Not being a Shenandoah Valley native, I don’t know how long the ducks have resided along Cooks Creek. I see them as I’m making my way down Silver Lake Rd. and across the one-lane bridge.

Traffic came to a halt for several minutes at the bridge a few evenings ago. As I approached the scene, I wondered if there had been a collision on the bridge or some other vehicular difficulty.

It wasn’t anything to do with vehicles after all.

It was a long line of ducks marching across the bridge. There had to be at least 50 birds in this duck detachment. The first segment had no hesitation in following the two lead ducks to their roost spot along Cooks Creek in the pasture on the other side of the bridge.  After a short delay, the second group headed bravely in the same direction.

From the looks of the birds, this was a congregation of mom and dad ducks with this year’s offspring–who are almost the size of the parental units.

Once all the ducks were safely on the other side, vehicular traffic resumed.

I wish I’d had a good camera to capture the scene, but alas, no.

I’d be interested in hearing how long this group of ducks–known as a badelynge–has been around Dayton. If anyone has pictures of the Dayton ducks, I’d love to see them!

Here’s a link to a walking tour of Dayton , with plenty of history included. Maybe you’ll see some ducks when you’re in town.

~~Colleen