Howard the Merganser

June 16th (Tuesday)

Today we had the day off; it was our one day off in the middle of our shift and we were happy to get to sleep in until 07:00.  After a relaxing morning teatime we headed out fishing.  We were eager to try out our newly tied hoochie hook setups, and it was a beautiful day.  We gave ourselves a few hours and said that if we still hadn’t caught anything by 12:00 then we would head home.  

I ended up catching a very bizarre combo of two animals at the same time.  As we were trolling I caught a small Quillback Rockfish and a Sea Cucumber at the same time.  

The double catch on the hoochie hook setup.

The only way that we can imagine it could have happened is that the Quillback bit the hook and then took it down to the bottom where it brushed by a Sea Cucumber and up they both came.  It was definitely a very unexpected catch.  

About five minutes before we were going to head home, Jason got a salmon.  It put up a good fight and as seems quite typical of Chinook salmon, one of its techniques was to swim straight toward us.  This technique made it impossible for Jason to maintain constant pressure on the line since the fish was swimming quicker toward us than he could reel in.  Unfortunately when the fish was about 15 feet away from the boat, it got off.  We headed home.

In the afternoon we saw the Shearwater barge round the corner and I got ready to go and sort and collect our groceries from Save-On-Foods.  As I was getting ready to go Jason was out in the cockpit and he spotted a baby duck.  I grabbed my camera and went out onto the dock with Jason. 

There were about five crows around and also several seagulls and we quickly realized that the baby duck was alone and the birds were after it.  It was obvious that if we did not rescue the little guy that the crows would quickly get it.  

Since the duckling was right alongside of the dock we thought we would simply be able scoop him up, but when we went to do so he dove and disappeared under the dock.  Unsure when he would come out I headed over to deal with getting our groceries and Jason stood watch on the dock.  

By the time I got home with our food, Jason had “Howard”, the little duckling, in Kiki with him.  Jason told me that Howard had swum over towards shore and was being attacked by the crows.  Jason had paddled over to the shore, but since he must have also appeared as a threat to Howard, he ended up having to chase Howard along the shore before Jason was able to rescue him. 

We brought Howard into our cockpit, and it did not take long for sweet little Howard to learn that we were not a threat.  

He was full of energy and wanted to explore everywhere.  It was very impressive how agile he was and he was a very good jumper.  It was a full-time job just keeping up with him and making our boat Howard-safe.  

We figured out that he was a Merganser duckling and after reading about their diet we got to work trying to get him some food.  Jason modified our fishing net with a mesh fabric that came with our new mattress and he went around the dock collecting small creatures for Howard.  

I stayed home with Howard and when Jason got back with some food we filled up one of our glass cooking pans with water and food and tried to get Howard to eat.  We were quite happy when he finally had some water to drink, but he still hadn’t eaten.  

We kept Howard inside and he explored every nook and cranny of our boat padding along with his big duck feet and stealing more and more of our hearts the longer we spent with him.  As the afternoon wore on and the temperature began to drop Howard laid himself down in the sunshine spots that came in through our hatch.  He would go off exploring and then come back to the sun, then off exploring again, and back to the sun.  As the sun shifted spots on our floor, he moved where he laid down and when the sun finally left our floor sweet little Howard did something that surprised us both.  He came up beside my leg and jumped up.  When I put my hand down beside him he climbed on and settled himself happily in my hands.  He wanted the warmth, and in the short time that we had been with him he had not only learned to trust us, but also that we could provide heat.

Unfortunately we both had to work the following day at 07:00 for ten hours, so we had to find Howard someone who could provide the care that he would need.  Luckily we knew just the right people, they have lived here for many years and over the years they have rescued and tried to help many young or wounded animals.  They happily came by to get him, and although we were sad to say goodbye, we knew that they could provide the best care for him.  

We spent the evening talking about little Howard and hoping that he would start eating.  Sadly, we found out in the morning that he did not make it through the night.  The poor little guy was just too young and had had such a big day with no food and so much stress.  At least we know that we made his last day better than it would have been alone with the crows.