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Mother duck, brood waddle through school on trek to new home

In this photo taken Thursday, April 30, 2015, herded by teachers, from left, Jo Lokken and Tracy Larsen, and special needs assistant Ali Fischer, a mother duck and her babies are escorted from their nest in the courtyard at Lewis and Clark Middle School to nearby Spring Creek Park in Billings, Mont. (Casey Page/The Billings Gazette via AP) In this photo taken Thursday, April 30, 2015, herded by teachers, from left, Jo Lokken and Tracy Larsen, and special needs assistant Ali Fischer, a mother duck and her babies are escorted from their nest in the courtyard at Lewis and Clark Middle School to nearby Spring Creek Park in Billings, Mont. (Casey Page/The Billings Gazette via AP)

By Associated Press May 1, 2015 1 min read

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – A mother duck and her brood got a brief tour of a Montana middle school as teachers and students herded them from their courtyard nest to a nearby creek.

It’s a tradition for Tracy Larsen, who teaches family consumer sciences at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Billings.

She says each spring, a mother duck settles in the school’s courtyard and hatches her offspring. And each spring, Larsen helps guide the young family to safer ground.

The journey takes the tiny creatures inside the school, down two hallways, back outside, across a street and to a park. There, the mother and ducklings splash into their new home, a rushing creek.

The Billings Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1GNgMda) this year’s trek took place Thursday – two days after the dozen fuzzy ducklings were born.

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Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com