Downtown ducks refusing to fly south

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Four ducks, evidently attracted by the possibility of a free meal, have taken to the streets of downtown Fairbanks looking for handouts rather than flying south for the winter.

On Monday, the ducks — two female and two male mallards — were chased away from the front of Rabinowitz Courthouse on First Avenue by a pair of bird biologists who had been called by Alaska State Troopers. The biologists chased the ducks back to a shrinking sliver of open water in the nearby Chena River, which the birds have been occupying since the river began to freeze a month ago.