Every year, patients at the University of Rochester Thompson Health Hospital are treated to an adorable parade. It’s not your typical parade.

Patients at the New York hospital were treated last week to a mother duck parading her new baby duckling.

“Every year, without fail, a mama duck chooses one of the enclosed courtyards at our M.M. Ewing Continuing Care Center to lay her eggs and take care of her babies,” staff shared to the Facebook page. “She lets us know when she’s ready to go by tapping on the glass, and this morning, it was time for this annual rite of spring.”

Once they complete the parade, the babies follow the mother duck though the hallways of the hospital, out the door and into a grassy area behind the hospital.

The duck follows the same path every year, and facility services staff use old signage to gently guide her and the ducklings through the halls.

“She has us trained,” one associate joked in a photo caption posted to Facebook.
This spring, the mother duck led 13 ducklings on her annual route.
“There they go! Good luck, guys. We’ll miss you!” the hospital wrote about their beloved resident duck and her little ducklings.
AWWWdorable!