New home for duck family

Lindsay Sandham

It’s a good thing the Sidley family of Corona del Mar isn’t

accustomed to using the family swimming pool this time of year.

Saturday, a mother duck and her eight ducklings moved in, and they

don’t appear to be leaving any time soon.

The duck family first appeared in Karen Tringali’s yard. She heard

bird noises and assumed it was the usual springtime birds nesting in

a nearby tree.

“I was out cutting roses,” the Corona del Mar resident said. “I

walked around the corner and there was a parade.”

Tringali was delighted at the sight of the mother duck followed by

her babies, she said, but she has two cats who were also very

intrigued, and she worried that they might disturb the ducklings. She

called animal control officials to see if they could move the ducks

somewhere out of harm’s way. If they had to be moved, animal control

suggested they use towels to coax the ducks to a safer place,

Tringali said.

Tringali called her neighbors across the street: the Sidleys, who

don’t own any pets.

“They called me and I was studying for the AP exam,” said Scarlett

Sidley, a sophomore at Corona del Mar High School.

Her parents were out for the day, so she called her father -- who

loves animals -- and got permission to move the ducks into their

yard.

Karen Tringali’s husband, John, said he stopped traffic while the

girls guided the ducks across the street.

“We never even considered the water when we called Scarlett,”

Karen Tringali said. “We were just looking for a yard without cats.”

Sure enough, the duck and her ducklings went right for the pool.

When Scarlett Sidley’s parents returned home that evening, they

saw a family of ducks swimming in the pool.

“It is surreal to see the ducks swimming,” said Caroline Sidley,

Scarlett’s mother. “It’s really beautiful. We fell in love right

away.”

No one is sure how long the ducks will stay, she said, but the

ducklings are still very small, so it could be a couple of weeks.

“I haven’t become attached to them yet,” Scarlett Sidley said.

“But I’m sure [when they leave], it will be like something’s

missing.”

* LINDSAY SANDHAM is the news assistant. She can be reached at

(714) 966-4625 or [email protected].