Ducks Are Not As Stupid As They Look

This past Shabbos afternoon, TT asked me to take her to the "Duck Pond", a little stream of water that separates Woodmere from North Woodmere (and serves as Tashlich Central for my area).

TT is fascinated by all things animal, especially dogs, so she likes hanging out with the ducks. She also likes to feed them but I explained to her that we couldn't do it that day because it was Shabbos.

As it happens, there was another couple with a young girl around TT's age. They did bring "food" for the ducks. Rice cakes.

In my experience feeding ducks through the years, I have never once seen a piece of bread go uneaten. In fact, many skirmishes have broken out among the ducks vying for the pieces of bread.

On Shabbos, however, the ducks were completely unimpressed with the rice cakes. Many of them pecked at the bits of rice cake and swam away. Others took small bites and swam away.

Apparently ducks know instinctively what I've been saying all along:

Rice Cakes are a cruel joke on humankind.