This young mallard duck came into our care in early August after a woman found him sitting listless in the middle of a road. She brought the bird to VINS for help.
Upon examination, we found the juvenile duck to be thin, weak, and suffering from head trauma (evident by the blood leaking from one of his ears). We suspect he was struck by a car and was unable to reunite himself with his family.
Watch a video of this ducks’ release!
After 36 days in our care, the duck’s head trauma healed. He put on a good amount of weight, enjoyed dips in his kiddie pool, and was deemed ready to return to the wild. You’ll see in this video, the young duck is a bit hesitant to take off into the water. While we couldn’t reunite him with his family (as the ducks in the area of his origin were nowhere to be found), we chose a pond full of mallards. We believe a large flock of ducks is this bird’s best chance for integrating himself into a group. 
And as you’ll see at the end of our video, this duck swims right into a large sord of mallards! Best of luck, little duck!