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American Morning

Look at Annual Ritual That is Just Duckie

Aired March 20, 2002 - 08:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It may not look like it outside, but it is the first day of spring. The smell of Easter lilies fills the air while there's something magical hatching in Brooklyn.

Jeanne Moos makes the moos of an annual ritual that is just duckie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This just in...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's gorgeous.

MOOS: It may not be breaking news, but it is breaking. For New Yorkers accustomed to seeing dead ducks in restaurant windows, watching live ones hatch is a thrill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look, you see they're popping out. Look, look. Look at the eye!

MOOS: It may look like an egg with a peephole, but that's no peep. Ducks laid these eggs 28 days ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once the egg expands immediately, you could not put that duck back in that egg again.

MOOS: Nothing daffy about these ducks. Every year for the past 30 years, Keyspan Gas and Electric has made it a rite of spring to display ducks hatching in the windows of its Brooklyn headquarters.

(on camera): You know what happens? The ones in here end up in that window over there the next day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh! Look!

MOOS (voice-over): It's not every day you get to see a duck take its first swim, but hatching is the highlight, as spectators egg the ducklings on. A Peking duck comes to Brooklyn. The babies are exhausted when they finally emerge, a fact appreciated by women who have been through labor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can relate.

MOOS (on camera): You didn't do it in a window.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

MOOS (voice-over): John Phillips has been supplying the eggs for 19 years. He has to deal with us city slickers.

JOHN PHILLIPS, EGG SUPPLIER: That's one of the silly questions somebody would ask me is how do they get their mother's milk if the mother is not here? But ducks don't drink mile.

MOOS (on camera): Any other really dumb questions?

PHILLIPS: I think you've asked them all.

MOOS: Thank you very much.

(voice-over): Every day, 30 to 40 eggs hatch. We could have used an egg timer. I'll bet you a buck this one comes out first. My egg against his. It went down to the wire. Oh, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's out now. I would say that's out.

MOOS (on camera): No, no, mine's coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My head is out there, sweetie. It wasn't easy getting this dollar, I tell you.

MOOS (voice-over): We're told these ducks will end up as breeders, rather than dinner. Since we're the first thing they see, wonder what they think of us, peering through window?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're despicable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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