Good News Thursday: Duck lays eggs in garden center, children rescued after 40 days in Amazon

Duck lays eggs in garden centerGarden center employees talk about the duck that has made a home among their plants. The mother mallard laid her eggs there and is a hit for customers. (WCCO)

A female mallard has built her nest in an unlikely location — a garden center in the parking lot of a grocery store in Minnesota.

In late May, the duck got into the Plant Place Garden Center and laid her eggs in some bee balm plants. The mother duck built a nest for her eggs out of plant tags. A curious seven-year-old first pointed out the duck to employees.

The garden center is in the parking lot of a Kowalski’s Market in Woodbury, Minnesota. There is a pond behind the center, and employees are unsure why the duck sought refuge among their plants. The duck is a hit for customers, who try to get as close as they can to see if she is real.

“It really gives you a different perspective of how life evolves and we get a front-row seat to it,” Plant Place employee June Tate said.

Children rescued after 40 days in AmazonRescuers work together in the Colombian Amazon Rainforest, where four children went missing after a plane crash. Rescuers found the children on June 9, after they spent more than five weeks in the jungle. (CNN/ @FuerzasMilCol, Twitter)

Rescuers found four children more than five weeks after they went missing in the Colombian Amazon Rainforest. The indigenous children were in a plane crash on May 1 and remained in the jungle until they were found.

Colombian military forces worked together with indigenous scouts to search for the children. The children are now recovering in a hospital, and have been reunited with their family members. Colombian President Gustavo Petro visited them at the hospital.

The children were young, with the youngest turning one year old while they were lost in the jungle.

“We are indigenous people … I believe in the jungle, which is our mother, and that’s why I’ve always kept the faith and would say that both the jungle and nature have never betrayed me,” Manuel Ranoque, the children’s father, said.

A relative of the children said they survived by eating tapioca flour that had been on the plane, and once they ran out of that began eating seeds.

Grandma and grandson visit every U.S. national parkBrad and Joy Ryan smile while at Mount Rushmore. The Ryans visited every U.S. national park. (@grandmajoysroadtrip, Instagram)

Joy Ryan and her grandson Brad visited every U.S. national park over the past seven and a half years, concluding their travels with a stop at the National Park of American Samoa.

Brad Ryan has been documenting their adventures on Instagram and said his grandmother made history as the oldest living person to visit all 63 national parks, at age 93. The National Park Service recognized the pair with certificates and other gifts.

Grandma Joy told her grandson she regretted the few trips she had taken in her life up until then, which sparked the idea for their journey.

According to Brad Ryan, American Samoa was the best place to conclude Grandma Joy’s road trip.