It was years back, said Nancy Henderson, when she followed a duckling down to the bay after it had been inadvertently left behind by its mother and siblings following a brief scare from a neighborhood cat. Henderson tailed the baby from the end of her street, West 15th in Ship Bottom, across Bay Terrace, and into the water – where she could see that the mallard family was already halfway across the bay. The duckling set out after them, and Henderson, dripping wet and concerned, headed home.