The Lake Merritt Duck Couple That Stole Oakland’s Heart
Onlookers dubbed the lovebirds Oakland’s power couple. They didn’t know the animals were in danger.
Last summer, after months of being holed up in a single-occupancy unit in San Francisco, my boyfriend and I decided to take advantage of falling rent prices and move to a bigger place in Oakland. The 400-square-foot studio felt like a palace. Even better, it was only a two-minute walk to Lake Merritt, a welcome change of scenery from the concrete jungle of North Beach.
We took daily long walks along the water. And while we loved everything about the lake — Fairyland, the Gardens, Snow Park, the Pergola — the highlight was watching a certain endearing pair of ducks that were always perched on the same spot, always by each other’s side.
The couple stood out from the flocks of brown mallards that dominate the area. One was black with a vibrant green head, the other white with a tuft of feathers on its head resembling Bernie Sanders’ wild tresses. No matter what time of day or night we walked by, these two birds sat stationed together, sometimes asleep with their beaks nestled into the other’s back feathers.
Soon, we learned that we weren’t the ducks’ only fans. Small crowds would form around the duo, pointing and taking photos. They made appearances on the r/Oakland subreddit in late fall, first in photos, then fan art, then a poster.
At their peak, duck updates (duckdates?) were being posted several times a day, and the birds gained different names.
The power couple of the lake!
My partner and I have visited them every day since August. They are keeping me sane. We have named them “Remsen & Fiber.” The male black duck is Remsen.
My friend and I text about these two all the time. 😭 So precious.
Show me a more iconic couple.
It’s Birdie Sanduck!
Loved seeing them on our morning runs. We called them Aziraphale and Crowley after Good Omens, which we were watching at the time.
But what many of the couple’s devotees didn’t realize — myself included — was that they weren’t living happily at the lake. They were in danger.
“When you see a duck that looks a little different, it’s probably not supposed to be there,” says Kira Kiesler, who, along with her family, runs a Bay Area animal rescue organization called Genevieve’s Gentle Hearts Rescue.
This was the case for the Lake Merritt ducks, whom some in the community call Ebony and Ivory. Both are domestic breeds, not wild like the others around them. Ebony, the black duck, is a male Cayuga. Ivory, the white duck, is a female crested duck.
“They weren’t supposed to be at Lake Merritt, which is why they were so friendly,” Kiesler adds. “Someone actually hand-raised them. And unfortunately, they dumped them there, which is a very common story.”
Given that the ducks appeared in late April, Dawn Rogers, treasurer of Rancho Compasión, an animal sanctuary that takes in rescued farm animals, believes they were likely abandoned after being given as a gift.
“Somebody probably ended up taking them in as an Easter present and then realized that these aren’t really the pets that you want to keep in an apartment or your backyard,” Rogers says. “So they thought, ‘They’ll do fine at the lake. There are plenty of ducks there.’ But that’s not the way that works.”
Leaving a domesticated duck to fend for itself in the wild leaves it vulnerable to a number of dangers: predators like hawks and dogs, diseases from wild ducks that they haven’t built an immunity to, and a lack of adequate food. Knowing the danger the ducks could be in, the son of a Rancho Compasión volunteer notified his mother when he saw them at Lake Merritt, hoping the organization might be able to take them in.
Initially, the organization wasn’t going to. With a number of other waterfowl, among many other animals, at its facility, Rancho Compasión was at capacity.
“And then I saw an image, either on Reddit or Facebook, that my daughter shared with me of the two ducks on that concrete culvert. The white duck was laying down and sleeping in an unnatural position — she looked like she was dead — and the other duck looked to be sitting beside her and protecting her. And I told my daughter, ‘You know what? Let’s go get them,’” Rogers says.
Rogers called Miyoko Schinner, the acclaimed vegan chef behind Miyoko’s Creamery and owner of Rancho Compasión, and said, “I know that this is kind of against the rules [because we’re at capacity], but I’m bringing the ducks.”
Rogers and her daughter drove to Lake Merritt and quickly found the duck couple. Rogers says it was “the easiest rescue I think I’ve ever done,” taking less than 10 minutes.
“The black one came right to us. The white one was more hesitant, but she also allowed herself to be picked up and put into a crate,” Rogers says.
Rogers had hoped to put Ebony in the crate as well, but by that point a crowd had gathered around them, and she worried Ivory might bolt in fear if she opened the door, so Rogers carried him to the car herself. As they drove to Nicasio, she held him on her lap the whole way.
“He ended up putting his head on my shoulder and just making these little murmuring noises the entire way there,” Rogers says. “You could tell they were incredibly happy to be secure and with people.”
Kiesler, of Genevieve’s Gentle Hearts Rescue, also volunteers at Rancho Compasión and kept up to date on the rescue in a group chat, eventually notifying the r/Oakland community on Reddit.
“People love these ducks, and they’ve obviously been wondering where the heck they went after they’d been there for months,” Kiesler says. “I wanted to assure people they hadn’t died — they’re actually in a very good place and being taken care of.”
For several weeks after their rescue, Ebony and Ivory stayed at Funky Chicken Rescue, a rescue and sanctuary that frequently takes in special-needs animals. Rogers got in touch with Darcy Smith, co-founder of Funky Chicken, who happened to be taking some residents to the Medical Center for Birds in Oakley that week and offered to take the ducks along.
The veterinary staff was surprised that the ducks lasted as long as they did in the wild, which Rogers credited to a savvy local resident supplying them with bird feed and Lake Merritt visitors for protecting them from predators. Both ducks had an infection called bumblefoot, likely a result of poor nutrition, bacteria in the water, and roosting on the hard concrete culvert. Ivory also had a deep gash on her bill, as well as wet feather, a condition that prevented her from being able to produce the oil ducks use to waterproof their feathers.
“When we picked her up, she was soaking wet… I don’t think that she would have lasted very long on that lake,” Rogers says. “She wasn’t capable of really swimming. She had to stay out of the water, and that was their only escape” from predators that might have tried to attack them.
With proper shelter and nutrition, though, Ebony and Ivory began to recover and live their best little duck lives. Ivory is able to go in the water again and has even started laying eggs — a sign that she’s in good spirits. Smith continued to update the r/Oakland community on the ducks’ progress, posting pictures of their “date nights” and a so-cute-it-hurts video of Ivory taking a bath in a utility sink. (She later fell asleep while Smith was blow-drying her.)
“I go out there and I sit in their enclosure with them all day,” Smith said while the ducks were in her care. “I can see why everybody in Oakland’s in love with this little duo.”
According to Smith, the ducks are “bubbly,” “chatty,” and at the risk of unduly anthropomorphizing them, head over heels for each other.
“Ebony is just absolutely smitten with Ivory,” Smith said. “I’ve never seen a drake more taken with his hen than this couple. He’s always following her around and touching her… he just wants to be right next to her. He’s definitely her protector.”
Ebony even gave Ivory first dibs on their special duck-feed-and-treat mixture.
“He just stands there and lets her eat all the yummy stuff, and then he’ll help himself,” Smith explained.
If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.
As of this past Sunday, the ducks have moved to Rancho Compasión in Nicasio for good, which the organization documented in a 41-minute homecoming video on Instagram. The ducks are staying in their own cordoned-off area in the aviary while they adjust to their new home, but eventually they will roam free during the day with the rest of the waterfowl. When that time comes, they’ll be able to splash in Rancho’s large pond, rest in the soon-to-be-built “duck mansion,” and eat all the feed, bugs, and treats they could ever want. They may even get to know the other resident power couple, a goose named Echo that has bonded with a cow named Angel.
“It’s a pretty cush life at Rancho,” Rogers admits.
Rancho is currently offering virtual tours and hopes to install a 24-hour live webcam near the duck enclosure in the near future so the people who have fallen in love with the couple can check in on them anytime they want. And once Covid-19 settles down, the public will be welcome to see the ducks and other animals at Rancho in person. In non-pandemic times, the organization offers tours for visiting schools and groups, and Rogers hopes that the ducks’ celebrity status will serve as an educational opportunity.
“I understand people are trying to be kind by releasing animals into the wild rather than holding them in their backyard, but if you get a domesticated animal, you need to understand they cannot survive,” Rogers says.
She recommends that if you’re looking to give away ducks or other farm animals, check out the Facebook group Farm Animals Needing Adoption. If that doesn’t work out, you can reach out to an animal rescue or sanctuary.
Smith is also optimistic that the community’s interest in the ducks will translate to an increased interest in animal welfare.
“People are really invested in them and care what happens to them,” Smith says. “We don’t see that with a lot of animals in rescue. Usually they’re thrown away and aren’t cared for, and that’s why they end up here. So this is kind of a fun story with a happy ending.”