This year it’s lame ducks populating Capitol Hill. Ten years ago it was actual ducks.

Carlos Wicker of the Washington Human Society suited up for duty on May 18, 1994, when a report came in regarding a family of greenhead mallards making themselves at home on the Hill.

Wicker took good care of the ducks: After wrapping them up in a net, he transported them to the Tidal Basin for release. As far as we know, none of the critters required crutches.