A True Story: City Ducks

I received the following this week from a friend:
It seems that Joel, a loan officer that works at Sterling Bank in downtown Spokane WA watched as a mother duck (Mallard) choose the cement awning outside his window as the uncanny place to build a nest above the sidewalk:

The mallard laid 9 eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 10 ft in the air. She dutifully incubated the eggs for weeks and one Monday afternoon all of her 9 ducklings hatched! Joel worried all night how the momma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the within the first 48 hrs of a duck hatching:

Tuesday morning, Joel came to work and watched the mother duck encourage her ducklings to the edge of the perch with the intent to show them how to jump off! The mother flew down below and started quacking to her babies above. Joel watched in disbelief as the first fuzzy duckling toddled to the edge and leapt into thin air, crashing onto the cement below. Joel couldn't let this continue to happen! He dashed out of his office and ran down the stairs the sidewalk where the first obedient duckling was dazed near its mother from the fall: Joel looked up. The second duckling was getting ready to jump! He quickly dodged under the awning while the mother duck quacked at him and at the ducklings above. As the second one took the plunge, Joel jumped forward and caught it before it hit the cement. Safe and sound,he set it by the momma and other stunned sibling, still recovering from its painful leap. One by one the ducklings continued to jump to join their anxious family below. Each time Joel hid under the awning just to reach out as the duckling made its free-fall. The downtown sidewalk came to a standstill! Time after time, Joel was able to catch the remaining seven ducklings and set them by their approving mother.
At this point Joel realized the duck family had only made part of its dangerous journey. They had two full blocks to walk across traffic, crosswalks, curbs and pedestrians to get to the closest open water, the Spokane River . The onlooking office secretaries then joined in and hurriedly brought an empty copy paper box to collect the babies. They carefully corralled them, with the mother's approval, and loaded them up into the white cardboard container. Joel held the box low enough for the female duck to see her brood. He then slowly navigated through the downtown streets toward the Spokane River as the mother waddled behind and kept her ducklings in sight: As they reached the river, the Sterling Bank office staff then tipped the box and helped shepherd the babies toward the water and to their mother after their adventurous ride: All 9 ducklings safely made it into the water and paddled up to momma duck. Joel said the mom swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank workers, proudly quacking as if to say, "See, we did it! Thanks for all the help!' Lesson? Nothing is impossible without a little help from our friends!!