Search This Blog

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Russian Ducks


Children will ask the most obscure questions. Oftentimes, there are questions I just cannot answer. Shocking, I know!

Earlier this week, in a casual conversation with one of my inquisitive children, she poses the following:

Are there ducks in Russia?

My gut reaction was to say Of course, honey. Then, for a brief second I thought, What if there aren't? How the heck do I know? I've never been there. I've never studied the geographic locations of ducks and honestly I didn't give a hoot. Geesh, why couldn't she ask me why the sky was blue. Then, at that point, I could have gone into some long diatribe about the sun's rays and how light is transmitted through the atmosphere. That's for another day though. Probably for the day when we revisit the nautical saying:

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.
Red sky in morning, sailor's take warning.

On this day though, she MUST know about ducks. Well, I finally got around to perusing the internet for this question. I will say that I found a translation for "quack quack" (krya-krya) in Russian/Ukrainian, and I also found a recipe. That's right folks, a Russian recipe for roast duck. I've decided not to share this with my child. She is not a meat eater and cannot fathom eating anything that would come from an animal--save Chicken McNuggets of course. Those don't come from chickens, they come from McDonalds.

Now, if she had asked my husband if there were Russian ducks, he might have answered yes, but they don't fly, they skate on ice--Anaheim Ducks. He's a wise guy like that.

Back to the issue at hand, what proof can I give her short of hopping a MAC flight to the Ukraine or Moscow. Come to think of it, I don't even know if that's possible. At any rate, if I were to make a hop, it'd probably be to Alabama to see a dear friend right now, but I already know they have ducks there. Still, I might just win my daughter over with a sweet tale about ducklings. Yes, yes, there are replica statues in Moscow from Make Way for Ducklings. They resemble those that reside in the Boston Public Garden. It might interest some of you to know that former First Lady Barbara Bush actually donated these statues to the former Russian First Lady Raisa Gorbachev.

After a great deal of searching, I finally found a place that gave the names of different duck families and where they might be found throughout the world:

Here are some that can be found in and around Russia:

FERRUGINOUS WHITE-EYED
RED-CRESTED
EUROPEAN WIDGEON
NORTHERN SHOVELER
NORTHERN PINTAIL
and, quite possibly the MALLARD

I am certainly no expert on ducks, so if I'm wrong or have left something out, spare the hate mail. I'm just a mom trying to answer a question. ;)

In conclusion, I think I will share this story with her: The White Duck

2 comments:

Flo said...

Brian is convinced that the McDonald's nuggets come from "Animal 57s," which are akin to the idea of Heinz 57 ketchup, which was originally made from 57 different types of tomatoes. He thinks that the nuggets are made from an animal that looks like a bowling pin - no wings or legs, just a pin-like torso and perhaps a beak. This helps him sleep at night, I think.

Just a Girl in a Port said...

ROFLMAO

That made my day. Thank you to your Brian. Thank you, thank you for the hearty laugh.

As a side note, bet you never thought someone could write a completely random post about ducks for their kid, eh?