Duck joins primary school class
One of Morningside School’s new students is already having an impact on her peers despite being around for only 10 weeks.
She might have a beak, webbed feet and feathers – but that hasn’t stopped Coby from reading and hanging out with the kids, or getting dressed up for book club day.
As Morningside School teacher aide Karen Love said, the students are part of Coby the duck’s flock.
“She literally is one of the students. This morning she’s been in during reading and she just sits and watches kids read. She perched up on the bean bag and sat there with a group of boys. She just likes being with the kids,” she said.
Coby became the school pet about 10 weeks ago after the little yellow duckling turned up all alone at Love’s rural home.
“We were like ‘what are we going to do with this thing?’ we have goats and pigs and cats and dogs so I started bringing her to school and she has come to school every day since then.”
Love said the students have been able to watch Coby grow and change from a yellow duckling that fitted in a little beanie, to a big creamcoloured duck.
“For a lot of our kids they would have never had any contact with a duck or any kind of animal, so it’s been a really cool learning curve for them having her in the classroom.”
Love said Coby sits on the mat with the kids and helps in the school garden. Meanwhile, the kids have made lots of things for Coby including a house and a superhero cape for book club day.
“The kids are more excited to see her every morning when I get to school than they are me. It’s usually ‘morning Coby, oh hi Whaea Karen.”’
Coby – who was named by Love’s children before research indicated the duck was probably a female – has
She literally is one of the students. This morning she’s been in during reading and she just sits and watches kids read. Karen Love
given the kids something to be responsible for, has built their confidence and given them a reason to be excited coming to school.
“I tell the teachers if you’ve got any kids that need time out, bring them down and sit them on the deck and sometimes sitting, patting or looking
is quite therapeutic.”
Love, who takes Coby home every day, said she isn’t 100 per cent sure what breed of duck she is but suspects a Pekin or Buff Orpington duck.
“She’s come from someone’s pond but I can’t figure out where. I drove around looking for any sign of any duck and there were a couple of Mallard ducks but no sign of any other abnormal coloured ducks.”
Love said Coby’s flying feathers were just starting to come in and she won’t be cutting them.
“I’m hoping she will fly off and have a little family and maybe come back and visit.”
Duck expert Dr Jenn Sheppard said the duckling would have grown to see either the teacher or the class as her family.
Coby was approaching the point where her instinct to fly was going to compete with the bond formed in the last few months.
“By the time she is 60 to 100 days old, she will be able to start flying. Once they start to be more mobile, they tend to flock up with other groups of ducks.
“The duckling the school has met will have to choose whether to stick around for a bit longer and stay with its family.”
As the urge to fly eventually ended with finding a mate, the primal drive to leave would be strong.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the duck needs to fly away in the next few months.
There are always exceptions and it depends how much the duck has imprinted on the teacher or the class.”
If the primal urge did lead to the duck flying off, and she was – as the school believes – a female duck, then next year’s students might find it returns “home” with a mate – and more ducklings to follow.
Sheppard, who runs an ecological consultancy called Simax Ecology, was awarded a doctorate for studying the breeding ecology of mallard ducks, which involved investigating the survival rates of nests, females, and ducklings and to identify nesting habitats.
She said the duck’s behaviour would be influenced by its breed and if it was a domestic duck – such as a Pekin – then it would be more inclined to stay where it was being regularly fed.