Teensy plastic ducks and their ‘hunters' taking over streets of Manhattan

New York Post

4 days ago

They're going ducking mad in Manhattan.
A dog walker who has been decorating her neighborhood with bright, teeny plastic ducks has inadvertently created a craze — with local kids collecting and trading hundreds of the toys.
The so-called 'Delightful Duck Venture' has exploded in popularity in recent months after JJ Cerillo introduced two tiny homes for the plastic waterfowl as part of a mission to simply bring joy to her neighborhood.
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7 The newest Manhattan hotspots are Duck Libraries in Chelsea and Inwood.
Robert Miller
'This is kind of why I get up in the morning,' said Cerillo, a dog walker by trade.
'We're seeing kids walking down the sidewalk hunting, and it just makes my day. And I know it makes their day. It makes them so excited, they just want to find those ducks. It brings so many people together and it's about ducks.'
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Cerillo, 53, started placing the ducks around Chelsea and Inwood in late 2023 — affixing the colorful toys to random spots, such as posts and fences with magnets. She said over the years she's placed 'thousands upon thousands' and spent thousands of dollars of her own money on the idea.
Though she originally started her waterfowl project for adults, the idea soon became a hit with kids, who spend after-school hours trying to find and collect them.
So, late last year, she expanded the project by putting up metal 'duck libraries' on posts, where people can place the ducks they find elsewhere in centralized collections.
'When the library came, it gave me the opportunity to see these kids rush to this library and then I saw them all happy,' she said.
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7 JJ Cerillo created the Duck Libraries in December, a year after she started hiding the plastic toys throughout the borough.
Robert Miller
That idea supercharged her project as it soon went viral on social media and was profiled by Gothamist.
'When school gets out, it gets mobbed,' Cerillo said, referring to the Inwood Duck Library. 'There's a group of kids around, everyone's going in. I've even been there trying to put ducks in and they're pushing me!'
Technically, the idea is to leave-a-duck-take-a-duck, but, unsurprisingly, thousands have been nabbed from the libraries.
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7 Neighborhood kids go on 'duck walks' and 'duck hunts' to find as many of the tiny toys as possible.
@chelseaduckmags /Instagram
Cerillo has lost count of just how many teensy ducks she's hidden throughout Manhattan, but estimates she goes through 500 per day.
The Manhattanite shells out roughly $1,500 on Amazon every month to keep up with the cost of the project, but says it's well worth the price to put smiles on the faces of her neighbors.
Beatrice, 11, and Mille Knittel, 9, of Inwood, joined the duck hunt in November after finding the toys littered throughout their neighborhood — and a duck trade erupted at school between other kids who were going on their own 'duck walks' with their families.
At the time, the 'duck lady' was a celebrity but was shrouded in mystery. The sisters set out on a mission to find out who she was, and ultimately struck up a friendship with Cerillo.
7 Cerillo disperses as many as 500 ducks per day.
Robert Miller
7 Millie and Beatrice were dubbed 'duck ambassadors' last month when they took over Cerillo's duties so she could enjoy her vacation.
Robert Miller
'It was like meeting Beyonce!' said Millie.
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The sisters wrote a card for Cerillo thanking her for the project, signed by the kids in their classes. Cerillo expressed her gratitude by turning the girls into 'duck ambassadors' and tasking them with her job for six days when she went away on vacation.
'It was really fun. We went out really early and put that out in different places like she does, like Payson and Broadway,' explained Beatrice.
Little Alex Felder, 8, of the West Village, estimates he's collected about '1,000-something' of the plastic toys over the last year on weekly walks he enjoys with his dad, James.
7 Alex estimates he's collected '1,000-something' ducks, which he keeps in a section of his home dubbed 'Duck State.'
Robert Miller
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He keeps his collection on top of the family's flat radiator, which he has dubbed 'Duck State.'
It's grown so large that they've taken to buying their own ducks so they can replace some of the ones they find, estimating they've put about 400 into the libraries over the last few months.
'It's all fun,' the third grader said simply.
But for dad, it's a cherished time to connect with his son, telling The Post: 'The cool thing is it's really about walking around with him, a reason to walk and talk with him. It's a blessing. Over the course of a couple months, we've gotten to know every little weird landmark in Chelsea.'
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7 'Who doesn't like ducks?' said Cerillo.
Robert Miller
The project is infectious, with Cerillo saying other artists are looking to install their own Duck Libraries outside of the Big Apple — including one in Idaho and another in Edinburgh, Scotland.
One of Cerillo's Duck Libraries is also being featured in the Coffeeright Gallery in the Chelsea Market this month.
The Duck Venture has become such an important part of Cerillo's life that last week she even got inked with an image of the plastic, yellow creature that matches stickers that cover her libraries.
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'My goal is to grow this. Big things are going to happen. I'm going to make big things happen,' Cerillo said.
'Who doesn't like ducks?'