Park Avenue is no place to raise a family — of ducks, anyway.
A mother mallard, who built her nest on a traffic island in the middle of the busy thoroughfare, panicked and abandoned her 11 ducklings when well-meaning New Yorkers tried to help her web-footed little legion reach safety yesterday.
She flew frantically between East 68th and 69th streets, loudly squawking as her babies, unable to follow her, quacked in near unison below.
Then she disappeared.
The mother and her ducklings were first spotted heading north from the nest at 68th Street between the traffic islands just before 10 a.m.
“The mother jumped into the tulips, but her babies couldn’t make the jump,” said Valeria Anzolin, 27, who works at the Italian Cultural Institute across the street. “So I used my newspaper, and I picked up four of the babies and put them with their mother.”
PHOTOS: PARK AVE. DUCK FAMILY RESCUED
Mama duck may have chosen the tony Upper East Side address thinking it would protect her eggs from predators, but she clearly didn’t anticipate the chaos that would ensue when the fluffy little yellow and brown cuties hatched.
“Fortunately, this duck had connections, and was able to count on the good offices of the Parks Department,” Commissioner Adrian Benepe said.
City Park Rangers Sheridan Roberts and Sgt. Sunny Corrao came up with a plan to lure back the mama duck after she flew off. They put some of the babies in a basket in the hopes they would call their mother.
It took until 2 p.m. to regain the mother’s trust.
The rangers then carried the basket of ducklings west on 68th Street. The mallard matriarch followed them, as pedestrians, including one carrying a net, spurred her on and truck drivers held back traffic.
Thirteen minutes later, the mom was led over the Central Park wall and the ducklings were all released. The rangers slowly guided the family through the park, and they all jumped into The Lake near The Boathouse.
“I have done this every year for three years now,” Corrao said. “Park Avenue is pretty, but it’s not the best place to have baby ducks.”