Lost Island Water Park

Riverside Park duck pond loses ducks for now

Jacksonville’s Riverside Park duck pond lost its ducks this week along with geese, waterbirds and assorted turtles when the city began draining it because the water was contaminated with E. coli bacteria and large amounts of algae.

The $100,000 project will clean the pond for now, but the problem lies at the bottom where animal droppings build up and turn toxic because the bottom of the pond is solid and artificial.

“As soon as the birds come back, there’s going to be 30 or 40 people a day coming out there to feed them again and the problem will resurface,” said Adam Hoyles, project manager for Onsite Environmental Consulting, the company hired by the city to remove the animals. “But [the city is] aware there needs to be a second step.”

Check out   more images from the cleanup

Hoyles said some sort of filtration system will be needed and he is working on determining how soon that need will arise.

The animal problems began after the city hired OEC to remove the turtles. It was thought that the ducks would flee once work began — but they did not.

“It turns out that when ducks become domesticated and are used to being fed and living in one place, they’re not leaving,” Hoyles said.

The group spent much of Thursday chasing down mallard ducks, the most elusive of the group.

“We had to chase them back and forth across the pond and into the more mucky parts to wear them out,” OEC president Janet Herrick said. “It was insane.”

The 53 ducks and geese were taken to the Bird Emergency Aid and Kare Sanctuary (BEAKS) on Big Talbot Island to stay while the project is completed. They are scheduled to be returned by early October. The turtles will be released into the wild.

Nine of the birds showed signs of a condition known as “angel wing,” according to Cynthia Mosling, director and co-founder of BEAKS. 

The disease affects the wrist bones of the birds and causes the end of their wings to turn upward, making flight impossible.

According to the Audubon Society, the disease is only found in geese and ducks that are fed things such as bread by humans.

However, Mosling said the rest of the birds were in fairly good condition.

clifford.davis@jacksonville.