DUCKS ESCHEW THEIR NEW PARK AS HUMANS MOVE IN

(Ed.'s Note: At first we didn't quite believe it, but after some residents on Barnard Street sent us these photos, we are more inclined to do so. With the construction of the new Barnard Street Duck Pond observation deck, local residents are saying that the ducks are leaving the deck are en masse and migrating to the surrounding neighborhood. According to Jim Barton, of the Brownsville Observer blog, some residents have reported that a few of them have been mauled by dogs or hit by cars.
 Others have told us that the ducks are making nuisances of themselves by leaving their droppings on the lawns and killing the grass. And others say that visitor to the site spread bread crumbs on the road and the ducks present an obstacle to passing motorists. The project was late as usual (it was supposed to be completed in November 2015) and was supposed to provide the ducks with a safe place from where humans could watch them. But the project also involved the removal of vegetation and weeds favored by the ducks. Passing by this weekend, we saw at least three or four kids fishing off the deck and not one duck in the water or on the resaca banks. Perhaps Barton is right when he said the ducks (if there are any left) will return when the structure falls into disrepair and the banks are overgrown with the shrubs and weed they seem to prefer.)