CCSU's Famous Duck Leaves Campus With 7 New Ducklings

NEW BRITAIN, CT — Stanley, Central Connecticut State University's beloved seasonal duck resident who captured the community's hearts in 2023 as they watched a live feed of her welcome ducklings, is back at her home base of Stanley Quarter Park — and she brought seven new babies.

After the new quackers hatched May 6, Central Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator Kelly Selby and her team "gave the new family some time to get settled in and explore the nest site" before escorting them on May 14 to their usual neighborhood at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain.

And because Stanley is a local celebrity, her journey with her new ducklings was caught on camera and can be viewed on YouTube.

There's more good news: this spring, a second female mallard — who students named Ella, after Connecticut's governor Ella Grasso — followed Stanley's lead and established her own nest in the same secluded area, school officials said.

Ella hatched 10 ducklings a week after Stanley's brood arrived, and Ella's new arrivals quickly introduced themselves to Stanley and her ducklings.

"Both nest locations don't offer a direct exit route for pre-fledge ducklings, but the Central family was ready to assist," officials wrote. "For the fourth spring running, female mallards have set up housekeeping on the Central campus in a location that provides excellent shelter from predators and limited human interaction."

Ella's family moved to Stanley Quarter Park on May 17, and all the ducks have become one happy family.

Stanley is one of several mallards that were caught and tagged by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain. She was tagged in September 2022, and DEEP named her after the park.

DEEP is monitoring ducks as part of an initiative to assess mallards' nesting success, including brood movement and habitat selection.

The typical incubation period for ducks is 26 days. Stanley was first spotted on her nest this year in early April — about two weeks earlier than last year.