Licton Springs attraction draws birdwatchers from around the world
This article written by Clayton Park appeared in the March-April 1997 issue of the Jet City Maven on page 4.
Charles Pilling considers himself just a guy with a "little backyard pond."
But ornithologists and duckbreeders around the world will tell you that the life-long resident of Seattle's Licton Springs neighborhood is much more than that: Charles Pilling (is) one of the foremost aviculturists in the United States," wrote the editors of Audubon magazine in an article published several years ago.
The International Wild Waterfowl Association couldn't agree more. In 1990, the association recognized Pilling for his many accomplishments as a duck breeder by inducting him into its hall of fame. Pilling, who rare leaves his beloved duck pond, travels to Halifax, Nova Scotia, that year, along with his wife June, to receive the prestigious honor.
Even today, at age 85, Pilling and his celebrated duck pond continue to attract visitors from around the world. He was recently profiled in a feature story published in the February issue of Highlights for Children magazine. Of course, Pilling is not just your average backyard duck breeder. He is the proud owner of three First Breeding Awards. He earned the awards by becoming the first person ever to breed the hooded merganser (1955), bufflehead (1964) and harlequin duck (1977) in captivity.
He continued to raise ducks that are shipped to zoos and duck breeders, including many rare breeds. Pilling's fascination with ducks started at age 12 when his family's doctor presented him with a gift: three crippled mallard ducks who were brought back from a hunting trip. Pilling decided to dig a pond for the ducks in his family's backyard, which had a creek running through it that came from Licton Springs and fed into Green Lake.
"I had to get out there with a wheelbarrow and shovel and dig the ponds out," he recalls. "The dirt that came out of the ponds were used to fill in the land around the ponds because it was all swampy." By the time he graduated from Lincoln High School in 1931, Pilling said "the only thing I wanted was to get into the bird business."
Unfortunately, he was unable to find nearby schools that offered such classes. Instead, he took a job with Crescent Manufacturing Co, in south Seattle, and later went to work for Seattle-Tacoma shipyards during World War Two. After the war he hot a job driving tank trucks for Texaco Oil Co. In the meantime, he also married and settled down in the house next to his parents' home where he and June raised four children. He continued to work on building his pond at night and learned about raiding ducks on his own.
"I started by building one pond and gradually kept enlarging it because it wasn't quite what I wanted," he said. "I finished it probably around the latter 1940s." Over the years he also expanded his collection of ducks by ordering various species from other duck breeders.
In 1951, he was given a hooded merganser hen that had a wounded wing required amputation. He slowly nursed the hen to health and immediately began his search for a male merganser in hopes that he could accomplish something that had never been done before: raise the hooded merganser in captivity.
He got his wish three years later, when a game-bird breeder from Montana gave him a male merganser who was suffering from broken wings and buckshot wounds. His painstaking efforts to aid the male merganser's recovery included giving it regular doses of vitamins, force-feeding it with an eyedropper and giving it daily exercise in a bathtub.
Three moths later, the male had recovered and was well enough to live in the pond with the other ducks. The merganser eventually mated, producing eight ducklings. News of the event created a sensation in the duckbreeding world that prompted S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, to make a trip to Licton Springs to investigate.
Ripley recounted his visit a few years later in a letter published by Audubon magazine: "I visited Charles Pilling for the first time in 1955 at his home. He had attained a celebrated stature by managing to breed hooded mergansers in captivity. To see these delightful birds scampering about the rear lawn, and popping in and out of the nearby stream with the facility of otters, was a treat indeed."
Pilling's retirement from Texaco in 1973 allowed him to become a full-time duck breeder - raising as many as 100 ducks a year while putting in 14-hour days during the summer. He has tapered his efforts in recent years, raising only 30 ducks a year at present, but promises "to keep the collection as long as we can for the benefit of the bird-watchers."
The Licton Springs Community Council honored Charles and June Pilling last year by installing a sign in their yard describing the many species of ducks and other birds that can be seen at Pilling's Pond.
Pilling's Pond is located along North 90th Street, about a half block west of Wallingford Avenue North.
