There was also worry that the ducklings hadn't had enough time to acquire the feather oils needed to make them waterproof and keep them warm and afloat in the water.
So, Deterer called the city's Bureau of Animal Control, which summoned the nonprofit Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, Inc., which sent a crew to Pratt Street.
Just before 2 p.m., only minutes after she arrived, BARCS rescuer Melinda McWilliams had rounded up all 11 yellow-brown chicks, plopped them into a wire cage, and plucked the last egg from the nest. They all headed back to the agency's shelter.
By the time Deterer's people had picked them up there later in the afternoon, there were 12 ducklings to transport to the county.
Also en route to the shelter yesterday afternoon was another duckling, scooped from the harbor by a trash boat in Canton, Deterer said.
"We'll have to raise them until they grow up, when they'll be able to preen and care for themselves and go back into the wild," she said. The process takes about eight weeks.
It's too bad about Mama Duck, she agreed. But "most duck moms have so many babies, only one or two out of a clutch would survive. This way ... they're all safe and sound."
frank.roylance@baltsun.com
