Quacking the case of UNF’s missing duck will not be easy, but with the support of the Osprey community and recent sightings around Jacksonville, Howard could still be waddling around looking for his favorite students.

Recent sightings of white ducks have been reported to UNF Spinnaker and here’s the latest on what we know.

#1 : The Mysterious Muscovy

According to UNF Business Services Financial Specialist, April Mattedi, a white duck appeared in their housing complex in the surrounding area around Jacksonville.

Mattedi mentioned that some other members of the apartment community had never seen the duck around the area before and had no idea where it came from.

From this picture, this Pekin duck also appears to be a female, like Howard. This is evident by the lack of curled drake feather, seen among males, which is promising.

While the Muscovy breed of duck usually lives around that area, the duck that may or may not be Howard seems to be out of place and while the exact location of this duck isn’t known, it brings hope that Howard is still out there.

#2 : Howard at the Country Club

Could Howard have made the journey to Hodges Blvd and to the grounds of the apartment complex Country Club Lakes?

While this is not likely to have occurred, it is interesting to see that white ducks are popping up mysteriously around Jacksonville and that makes searching for Howard much harder.

Howard’s species of duck, the American Pekin, is not often found in the wild, as they are usually domesticated for eggs and meat. So any appearance of another female Pekin duck, if not Howard, is certainly unusual.

The duck in this picture seems to be out of place and definitely could be Howard but to make the journey of miles from a small pond on UNF’s campus to a lake on Hodges… seems like a far stretch. Howard is incapable of long, sustainable flight, so wherever he went, he most likely waddled or swam there.

#3 Just a hop, skip and a quack away

Possibly the closest we have come to finding our beloved duck Howard is a sighting from two weeks ago not even a mile from campus.

Near the UNF Golf Complex lies an apartment complex known as Bainbridge Town Center East Apartments,  where there have been multiple sightings of a white duck that looks like Howard.

While none of these sightings have been from residents in the community, this is the closest we have got to finding any evidence of Howard near UNF’s campus.

If you have any tips or whereabouts of Howard’s location, please email Tips@unfspinnaker.com and we’ll be one step closer to finding everyone’s favorite campus duck.

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