In the video above, James Rolin reports on the annual release of waterfowl at Gibson Pond.
With spring just around the corner, the Great Falls Park & Recreation Department released their ducks, swans, and geese from the “Honker Hilton” at Gibson Park on Friday, March 29, 2024.
The birds took a short ride from their cozy winter abode down to where the crowds of families were patiently waiting.
Each year in October, city workers put on their waders and pick up rakes to walk around in the pond, nudging the flightless birds toward a pen.
The birds are then loaded onto a truck and driven to the north side of the park and released inside their winter quarters, often referred to as the "Honker Hilton."
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During the colder months, the birds are kept inside for their own safety as many have clipped wings. Park & Recreation staff care for the birds throughout the winter. The birds also have an indoor pond inside their winter residence.
“It makes you happy when you see the ducks super happy and it's just cool seeing a bunch of different kinds of ducks,” exclaimed Jaelynn Hansen after watching the birds waddle into the pond.
Park staff asks that people not feed the ducks bread, but rather grains, which are available from the nearby snack shack on certain days.
The waterfowl will continue to live their best life in the pond until the weather cools in the fall when they will be rounded up and brought back to their winter home on the north side of the pond.
With this much excitement and so many waterfowl to see, it’s hard not to be excited about the warming weather.
