‘Make Way for Ducklings’ in Healdsburg

This is the kind of magical moment one might think only happens in children’s books. In particular, the 1941 classic “Make Way for Ducklings.” But, no — we got our very own baby-animal hero’s journey here in Healdsburg yesterday, when a mother duck and her 10 ducklings, “all in a line,” stepped into the crosswalk of Dry Creek Road at Grove Street, near Plank Coffee. This epic scene was witnessed around 11 a.m. by Shunya and Keith Anding, who live in the hills just west of town. “Traffic was stopped,” Shunya says, and “as we went by could see the fluffy babies didn’t know how to jump the curb.” Her husband Keith then hopped out of the car to try and rescue them, Shunya says — “but by that time they had found their way into the bushes at Hotel Trio, and hopefully on their way to nearby Foss Creek.” A happy ending, it seems, for our very own Earth Day fairytale in town.