I suspect it is mis-information that a mother bird won't accept a baby bird once handled by humans. This is something grown-ups tell children so's they'll keep they're paws off nests and eggs and backyard baby birds. What wildlife experts say to do, when finding a bird, or in this case a duck, is to return it to where you found it -- back away many many feet and Mama will often come tend to the fledgling with glee and delight.
I have had this experience where I heard a baby bird that had fallen into a sewer drain. It was a real Timmy and Lassie moment. The baby bird was peeping frantically. The mother bird was circling and squealing frantically. I was searching the street, frantically, for someone to help me lift the drain grate. Hooray for UPS men. Long story short, the baby bird was set on a branch of a small tree and before I got ten feet away the frantic mother was sitting beside the baby, much the calmer and happy at heart.
It is still possible to return the baby duck to the mother if you know where she is. If you take the duckling to the pond where the mother and siblings are chances are the baby you have will race to join his family and the mother will look at him, shake her head as if to say, "There's on in every crowd!"
Jenny
