There Is a Female Duck Nesting at the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown

It appears that Georgetown is overrun with ducks. We wrote about last week’s trepidatious march by a flock of ducklings from M Street to the C&O Canal, and this week, a female duck has taken up residence at the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown while waiting for her eggs to hatch.

A Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman says this is the tenth year in a row a female duck has shacked up at the hotel to lay her eggs. In response to the hotel’s newest fowl guest, its staff is responding how it would for any valued human. The planter where the duck is nesting has been barricaded and is being monitored by security guards. The duck is being fed hotel-branded bottled water and organic pellets.

Duck mania also extends to the hotel’s restaurant, Degrees, which is serving a “Duck Duck Goose” cocktail made from Grey Goose orange-flavored vodka, pineapple juice, grenadine, and Sprite. The restaurant is also yanking its duck bánh mì from the menu for the duration of the duck’s stay as a sign of “respect.” Hopefully, the eggs will hatch and the flock will waddle away soon. The duck is cute, but that sandwich sounds delicious.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.