Mama Duck Returns to Same Elementary School Every Spring to Lay Eggs

Vanessa the duck is truly a creature of habit. For the past 13 years, the bird has laid her eggs in the courtyard at Village Elementary School in Hartland, Michigan, the Livingston Daily Press & Argus reports. The mama duck recently made her annual return to the school, and last Thursday, students and teachers helped Vanessa lead her newly-hatched babies safely to a nearby pond.

Each year, like clockwork, Vanessa flies into Village Elementary School’s closed-off courtyard, crawls under a specific shrub, digs her nest, and lays her eggs. Once they hatch, teachers tape black construction paper along the walls and clear the halls so the duck family can safely parade through the school and reach a nearby pond outside.

The predictable bird has become Village Elementary School’s unofficial mascot. “It’s so unusual, but everyone gets so invested in this duck because [of] how cool is it that she comes back each and every year,” a student’s mother, Elizabeth Krause, told the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.

Watch this year’s annual duckling parade in the video above, courtesy of ABC News.

[h/t Livingston Daily Press & Argus via the Detroit Free Press]

Banner image courtesy of YouTube.