Wood Ducks Hand-Raised by Their Devoted Human Let Her Know What Type of Headwear She Should Wear

A waddle of wood ducks who were hand-raised by Tara Poole decided that they'd prefer to stick around than fly away. Poole said that she'd tried to release them into the wild, but they weren't having it.

We knew that the wood ducks would be hanging around for a little while after that. Normally, from what we read, that they would hang around for a month or so before they would fly off and start their lives, but 1 month became 2 months became 3 months, and we were like, maybe they're thinking of staying.

Not only did they not leave, but they actually began constantly following Poole and her partner all around their extensive yard in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Since they often jumped on her shoulders, Poole let the ducks decide what type of headwear she should wear, since she greatly appreciated their presence.

I was raiding my cupboards to try and find different types of headwear to have them assess and decide on whether they liked it or not. If they didn't like a particular color, they would sit on my shoulders instead and peck at it. They became fashionistas. The wood ducks gave me so much back. They gave me a sense of joy, a word that I hadn't heard really in a long time.

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