Duck Lady’s Back, and She Still Insists on Picking Up the Bill

Evelyn Leeds is known as the Duck Lady of Quail Creek and she is back.

Leeds, 68, earned her moniker and a little publicity about a year ago when her habit of feeding scores of ducks that lived in the ornamental lakes of the Quail Creek condominium complex ran afoul of her neighbors.

Tired of the web-footed flocks soiling patios, walks and swimming pools, the Quail Creek Homeowners Assn. fined Leeds $400 and warned that other residents of the 306-unit development would face heavy penalties if they, too, fed the ducks.

It has had little effect.

Leeds, for one, refused to pay the fine, then she moved out of her rented condominium into an apartment complex less than a mile away. And to the dismay of Quail Creek residents, she has continued to sneak onto the grounds every day to feed her feathered friends.

Once again, discussions at most Quail Creek homeowners meetings have centered on the defecating ducks and what association officials call “the duck policy.” The group’s president, Jon Sather, said residents appear to be divided on the issue.

“Some enjoy the ducks extremely,” Sather added, “but others don’t like the constant quacking.”

Tensions reached a new high recently when Leeds and another homeowner charged that a Quail Creek resident, armed with a small-caliber gun, fired on the ducks as Leeds was feeding them one night. The shots missed their target but almost struck Gary Kevorkian, his wife, and their 14-month-old son as they were walking to their condominium, Leeds and Kevorkian said.

“If someone starts shooting at me, I plan to defend myself with my licensed firearms,” Kevorkian said.

Sheriff’s investigators are looking into the shooting.

Several weeks ago, someone posted a flyer on residents’ front doors, warning that a man had exposed himself and assaulted a female on the grounds last November. The flyer urged residents to call the Sheriff’s Department if they saw “any suspicious activity.”

Lt. Bob Rivas of the South County sheriff’s substation said the department has not received any reports about the alleged incidents. But Leeds and other homeowners, who requested anonymity, suggested that the “bogus notice” was meant to scare residents and prompt them to call police whenever Leeds showed up at the complex to feed the ducks.

Life at Quail Creek has not always been so stormy. The artificial creeks with gushing waterfalls and tall pines, alders and eucalyptus are a picture of serenity, which attracted Leeds to the complex in the first place. When she moved in five years ago, there were fewer than a dozen ducks in the concrete-lined streams.

State park rangers believe that more ducks moved to the Quail Creek complex in April, 1989, when the county drained a lake in nearby Laguna Niguel Regional Park. About 80 migratory mallards and seven white, flightless Pekin ducks now live on the grounds.

Leeds and residents believe that the birds were Easter presents abandoned by their owners once they realized that the ducks were high-maintenance pets. The birds are now domestic animals, Leeds and wildlife experts contend, and they would die if not fed by humans.

Linda Evans of the Pacific Wildlife Project said that Leeds is correct in assuming that the birds depend almost exclusively on her for their existence.

“The developers created a handsome environment for the wild ducks,” said Evans, who heads the Laguna Niguel group that protects and treats wild birds found in Orange County. “When they fly over and see those creeks, they’re certainly going to go down. They wouldn’t know whether they’re artificial or not.”

The association has maintained that feeding the ducks does more harm than good by making them more dependent on human food. If there are more wild ducks in the area than the food supply can provide for, Sather said, they will fly to other areas to find the necessary food.

“The streams cannot handle the duck waste, the landscape in several areas is demolished by the ducks and people who carry in groceries are nearly attacked by hungry ducks who can no longer find their own food,” Sather said in a recent exchange of letters with Kevorkian after the shooting.

Sather called Leeds “a very dedicated environmentalist” but said that “she is also a trespasser by continuing to feed these ducks against the requests of the governing body.”

But Leeds insists that she cannot allow the ducks to starve to death. So when her landlord got a divorce and asked her to vacate the condominium, she moved to a nearby apartment complex so she could continue to feed the birds.

Almost every night, Leeds, a retired interior designer who pays $120 a month for bags of feed, dresses in black boots, black slacks, a black jacket and a black tweed hat to cover her ash blonde hair. The bespectacled Duck Lady then drives off in her beige Honda to feed the ducks.

As she approaches the artificial creeks, a chorus of quacks greets her. She quickens her steps and scatters a mixture of bird feed, lettuce and flour-less wheat bread to quiet the ruckus. She gives special attention to a few ducklings and then leaves to scatter food in three other feeding areas around the creeks.

Sometimes the feeding turns into an adventure. Spotlights from a Sheriff’s Department helicopter have played around, perhaps searching for her. Quail Creek residents have flushed her from the grounds and called the police.

Leeds said the “harassment” from the homeowners has caused her to reconsider living in Laguna Hills. She said she plans to visit New York--her former home--next month and hinted that she might decide to stay.

“I may have to give up my fight here,” she said. “I don’t want to be here if I cannot be near the creatures I like.”