Duck And (Re)Cover

The 30-year-old duck from the Joe DiMaggio Playground that went missing during an October renovation has been found and, as Rec and Park told the Chronicle’s Leah Garchik, “The duck will be home.” Local residents who had enjoyed watching their kids play on the metal duck (or who played on it themselves when they, one hopes, were young), had tried to find out if there had been any fowl foul play involved, but in the end, a neighbor had reportedly salvaged the duck when he thought it was abandoned. The duck has been a part of the children’s playground since 1985 when Nan Becker, a neighborhood activist who led the Tot Lot initiative, choose it as part of her construction project.