Ducks, ducks, go! at the annual duck derby
Some rubber duckies float down the river. Photos by Kat Sheridan
Sunniya enjoys the thousands of ducks. 
Members of the Mass Audubon Society match the ducks to the people who sponsored them. 
A volunteer makes sure the duckies escape the foam. 
A volunteer grabs the winning ducks out of the water. 
Thousands of ducks float down the river. 
Volunteers dump the ducks into the water.
Filling the net with ducks to be dumped in the water. 
There were 1,469 rubber ducks.
Some rubber duckies float down the river. Photos by Kat Sheridan
Sunniya enjoys the thousands of ducks.
Members of the Mass Audubon Society match the ducks to the people who sponsored them.
A volunteer makes sure the duckies escape the foam.
A volunteer grabs the winning ducks out of the water.
Thousands of ducks float down the river.
Volunteers dump the ducks into the water.
Filling the net with ducks to be dumped in the water.
There were 1,469 rubber ducks.
Thousands of rubber ducks floated through the Slocum River to support the environment during the 23rd annual Duck Derby for the Massachusetts Audubon Society.
“This is a unique event as it has the whimsy of the rubber ducks,” said Daniel Pedreira, the Southcoast Regional Director, “Who doesn’t love a rubber duck, let alone a thousand of them?”
The Audubon Society set up a course with buoys to ensure each duck reached the finish line and was scooped out of the water. These ducks then get rinsed off, enjoy the colder months in retirement and then return each year for the derby.
With lots of rain over the past few weeks, the river was filled with foam that volunteers had to rake out of the way. During the race, multiple ducks that were in the lead got caught in the foam and lost.
There were 1,469 ducks sold for a total of $8,495 raised for conservation. This year, the funds will go towards a number of projects; education programs and outreach, summer camp, conservation efforts and general operating expenses.
There were five winners; Eric Strand and Sox the duck won the first place prize of $5,000, Jaqualyn Fouse and George won second prize of a backyard habitat transformation, Sheryl Robinson and Elvin won third prize of a coastal birds expedition and Jerry Block and Scarlett won the “Stealth Duck” prize of an animal encounter. The last duck to cross the finish line was Kimberly Poulton’s duck Webster, or the ‘Slacker Quacker,” who will compete for free in next year’s derby and got a free swag bag.
The $5,000 prize comes from sponsors, not the funds raised by duck sales.
Many of the ducks were sold during the Southcoast Harvest Festival, where they asked participants “Why they duck.” Shaylynn and her daughter, Sunniya, age 2, duck because Sunniya was recently diagnosed with autism and has a love of ducks.
“She’s infatuated with ducks,” said Shaylynn, “So when we went to the fair the other day, we saw the big booth with all the ducks and she was like ‘O my god.’ We had to go over there to see what’s going on and we ended up finding out we could adopt one. So we did.”
Thousands of rubber ducks floated through the Slocum River to support the environment during the 23rd annual Duck Derby for the Massachusetts Audubon Society.
“This is a unique event as it has the whimsy of the rubber ducks,” said Daniel Pedreira, the Southcoast Regional Director, “Who doesn’t love a rubber duck, let alone a thousand of them?”
The Audubon Society set up a course with buoys to ensure each duck reached the finish line and was scooped out of the water. These ducks then get rinsed off, enjoy the colder months in retirement and then return each year for the derby.
With lots of rain over the past few weeks, the river was filled with foam that volunteers had to rake out of the way. During the race, multiple ducks that were in the lead got caught in the foam and lost.
There were 1,469 ducks sold for a total of $8,495 raised for conservation. This year, the funds will go towards a number of projects; education programs and outreach, summer camp, conservation efforts and general operating expenses.
There were five winners; Eric Strand and Sox the duck won the first place prize of $5,000, Jaqualyn Fouse and George won second prize of a backyard habitat transformation, Sheryl Robinson and Elvin won third prize of a coastal birds expedition and Jerry Block and Scarlett won the “Stealth Duck” prize of an animal encounter. The last duck to cross the finish line was Kimberly Poulton’s duck Webster, or the ‘Slacker Quacker,” who will compete for free in next year’s derby and got a free swag bag.
The $5,000 prize comes from sponsors, not the funds raised by duck sales.
Many of the ducks were sold during the Southcoast Harvest Festival, where they asked participants “Why they duck.” Shaylynn and her daughter, Sunniya, age 2, duck because Sunniya was recently diagnosed with autism and has a love of ducks.
“She’s infatuated with ducks,” said Shaylynn, “So when we went to the fair the other day, we saw the big booth with all the ducks and she was like ‘O my god.’ We had to go over there to see what’s going on and we ended up finding out we could adopt one. So we did.”
