Day-old ducklings start to explore after being born Thursday night at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
Nurse Jean Lowe is used to saving lives, but saving unborn ducklings was a first for her.
Her efforts paid off Friday morning, as she watched nine fuzzy creatures begin to discover the world around them at Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn.
"I just wanted to take the best care of them that I could," said Lowe, a nurse at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin. "We save lives, and every life matters."
The eggs originally were in a nest outside the hospital's emergency room, whose nurses saw the mama duck get killed by a hawk about two weeks ago.
After the nurses brainstormed about what to do, Lowe ended up taking the 18 eggs home for the night. Google told her they like heat and humidity, so she put them by a space heater and carefully sprayed them with warm water, she said.
The next day, Lowe's sister Donna Kruse, also a nurse at the hospital, brought the eggs to Fox Valley Wildlife Center where she volunteers and where a wild turkey named Talulah became surrogate mom.
A pair of one-day-old ducklings strike adorable poses Friday in Elburn. 18 eggs were rescued, of which 13 were viable. 9 ducklings were born seemingly healthy.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
Talulah the turkey keeps an eye on the ducklings that she helped hatch at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elgin.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
Talulah the turkey keeps an eye on ducklings Friday at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
Nine ducklings survived after 18 eggs were brought to the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
The ducklings at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center will remain there for 5-8 weeks before being released in to the wild.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
A duckling takes comforting refuge under it's surrogate mother, a wild turkey named Talulah.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
Talulah the turkey watches her duckling charges Friday.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
18 duck eggs were left unprotected in the nest outside their Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin a week ago after a hawk attacked and killed the mother duck. They hatched yesterday at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
Talulah and a duckling hang out Friday.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
Jean Lowe, right, and her sister Donna Kruse, nurses at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, visit the ducklings that they rescued as eggs after a hawk killed their mother.
Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com