An obituary for a duck

Here’s why you should give a quack

BILOXI, MISS.» Bonnie “the goodtime duck” waddled her way into the hearts of William “Andy” Linville and his granddaughter, Hailey Hickerson, during their regular trips to a park in Biloxi.

Well, they assume Bonnie was a girl. This duck could have been a guy. They’re not sure.

What they do know is that the duck with the funny tuft is no longer with us. Bonnie has gone to a duck pond in the beyond. And Linville was moved to write an obituary for the duck who brought so much joy to him and Hailey.

“With a saddened heart I am reporting the passing of Bonnie ‘the goodtime duck’ of Hiller Park,” Linville wrote. “Bonnie was known by many bread throwers because of the fashionable feather bun worn on the top of her/his head. Bonnie was thought to be a female because of her high-fashion hairdos, but male mating tendencies describe him as being male.”

Bonnie was a crested duck, so called because of the powder puff of feathers, and a mutation causes the crest.

Visiting the ducks in the park on a regular basis has been a longtime treat for Linville and his granddaughter.

“We’ve been going out there probably eight years,” he said. “My granddaughter had started naming them. There was this one with a bun on its head, and she wears her hair in a bun, so we started looking for that duck every time. We’d call out for her, and she began recognizing her name. We’d holler, and she’d start running for the van.”

Hailey noticed that she and Bonnie often had similar hair days.

“My granddaughter would be having a bad hair day, and she’d see that Bonnie’s feathers were fuzzy that day. Or another day they would be slicked back like she had been in the water,” Linville said.

“Bonnie is survived by her closest friend, Copper . ... Bonnie and Copper were always together, and Black Duck was always close behind. Pickles, the big white goose and his sidekick, The Old Gray Goose, were close acquaintances.

“We will always remember Bonnie.”