Local waterfowl need help through the winter

Each day Brock Bailey and his friend Paul Cailleaux mix up bags of cracked corn and barley near the canoe launch parking lot at Cottonwood Island Park.

Then they make their way to feed the ducks that gather near the open water under the railcar bridge.

According to Bailey these birds once depended on food that once spilled from railway grain cars.

Since that food supplied dried up around five years ago these birds had a difficult time surviving the cold winters.

As the temperature gets colder and the river ice builds up these ducks are using the fat they built up months earlier.

To keep all the ducks fed and happy. One of the volunteers ventures out to the areas of dry ground in the river bed as the other works the tree area along the river’s edge.

When both men first began feeding the ducks they paid for the feed out of their own pockets.

They would like to reach out to the community for help, as these mallards can eat up to three bags of food every day.

They would like more residents to donate bags of feed through Spruce Capital Feeds and then Cailleaux and Bailey will pick up the bags.

by Dave Branco

Local waterfowl need help through the winter

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