Rooster forms friendship with ducks

WHITE ROCK, S.C., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Residents of a South Carolina retirement community said a rooster, a white duck and a mallard have formed an unlikely group of friends on the property.

Officials and volunteers at the Heritage at Lowman retirement community in White Rock, said the white duck took up permanent residence in the facility's pond a few years ago when an injury prevented it from migrating. The bird was joined about two years ago by a rooster volunteers said may have been abandoned on the property, The State, Columbia, S.C., reported Wednesday.

The pair was joined last fall by a mallard that quickly bonded with the two birds.

Melissa Yetter, Lowman's executive director, and her volunteers said the ducks spend the day swimming while the rooster struts along the shore of the pond and periodically crows. They said the three birds huddle together in the evenings to nest on the shore.

"It's a joy to watch this group of misfits," Yetter said.