upworthy

ducks

Joy

People cheer on a group of adorable ducklings 'working up the courage' to jump off bridge

"For anyone who identifies with the 'last duck,' you got this."

@abbydecter/TikTok

More videos like this, please

When picturing the wildlife of New York City, pigeons and rats are likely to be at top of mind, not ducks. However, the rivers in Central Park and Prospect Park are teeming with them. During the spring and summer, you can expect to see waddlings of little ducklings out making their debut.

And thanks to a video (aptly captioned “hopecore”) posted to TikTok by a publicist named Abby Decter, we get to witness the most wholesome interaction between 10 little ducklings getting ready to take a plunge into the Husdon and a group of onlookers cheering them on.

One by one, the ducklings “worked up the courage” to take the leap to join their mama in the water as the crowd whooped and yelled “go go go!” Eventually only two shyer ducklings remained, but even they mustered up the gumption after a while (perhaps they responded to the encouragement of their fans).


"The feeling was electric, everyone just stopped what they were doing to watch. [It was] just one of those moments where everyone comes together," Decter told Newsweek.

Indeed, just witnessing the love shared for these sweet babies seemed to be a precious gift that viewers immensely appreciated.

"We don't want war, all of us just want to watch baby ducks."

"They're so tiny and brave.”

"I'm so proud of them.”

"For anyone who identifies with the 'last duck' you got this. They all got in the water safely, and everyone's timing is different and their progress is NOT less valid."

“If this doesn't prove animal sentience, they have fear, they overcome it, they have courage, etc., I don’t know what does.”

Yes, nature hardwired us to get the feels when we see cuteness (who wasn’t obsessed over little Moo Deng, amirite?), but another part of why we get so invested in the journeys of these little creatures—as is evidenced by this video and the comments it inspired—is that we see ourselves in them.

What a sweet reminder of just how connected all beings on this planet really are. Wishing these critters a safe time on the rest of their travels, including when they set out on their own adventures in a couple month’s time.

The Capitol Reflecting Pool: a serene, welcoming sight for stressed-out members of Congress and their aides as they hurry to work each morning.

And a serene, welcoming refuge for the ducks that call it home.

The pool's appeal to the mallards of D.C. is clear: open air, clean water — a nice, calm place to live.

The downside: Because the pool is enclosed by a small limestone ridge, ducklings have a hard time getting in and out.

Unlike most problems in Washington, however, this one had a fairly straightforward solution.

The Architect of the Capitol, the agency in charge of maintaining the pool, appropriated a couple of bucks and built two cheap little ramps for the lil' guys to climb:

Photo by the Architect of the Capitol.

All good, right?

Apparently, not for everyone, because ... Washington.

The site of the ramp appeared to perplex and infuriate Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina, who took to social media to express his displeasure.  

Where the pool stewards saw an inexpensive, simple fix to improve the lives of a few dozen ducklings, the congressman apparently saw a wanton misuse of taxpayer dollars.

Needless to say, however, some people on Twitter were ... confused.

Most people simply did not see what the congressman saw. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Turns out, a good number of Americans aren't opposed to spending somewhere south of $0.000000001 of their tax dollars on small solutions that actually work.

Skepticism of excessive government spending is healthy — but it's not "waste" if the spending actually solves problems.

"The ducks have an uncanny ability to locate a way out of the water, if one is provided," Anne Lewis, president of animal welfare organization City Wildlife, said in a statement defending the ramps.

"We can never truly predict their behavior, but our goal is to provide them the means to get in and out of the water, which is what they need to do in the wild to protect their duckling from becoming waterlogged or cold."

Agreeing on cheap solutions to small problems might even help us come together to fix the bigger, more controversial ones.

Solving issues like health care and taxes will require enormous amounts of effort and, ultimately, compromise. Most critically, solving them will require the government to work and, yes, spend money.

Building duck ramps is a small but real example of why it's important to have a working government. Programs like this may not turn a profit — which might make them seem like "waste." But that's not the point.

The goal is simply to make people's — and waterfowl's — lives a little easier.

Ultimately, uniting as Americans to agree to help a few ducklings find their way home is the least we can do.

Photo by skeeze/Pixabay.

Not to mention, photographic evidence proves the spending was efficient!

Waddle on, baby ducks. Waddle on.

Correction 5/17/2017: This story originally stated that the ramps were installed at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The ramps were actually installed at the Capitol Reflecting Pool.