36,743 Ducks
Have been placed since October 2023 by my own hands. A movement started when my Aunt Dawn gave me a small bag of 100 little plastic ducks and told me, “Have fun being a menace!” and I went and placed all those little plastic ducks in the Wheatley Center on the Robert Morris University Campus.
The reaction was instant, and everyone had fun searching for the little ducks. So I bought more, eventually purchasing enough that at this moment, I have roughly 25lbs. of little plastic ducks.
What started as almost a prank turned into a campus-wide movement.
People can follow @What_the_duckduck on Instagram and see what the little ducks are up to!
Over the last 2.5 years of placing ducks, there have been a handful of special events and moments that defined the presence the ducks have had. In 2024, I won a Micro Grant of $500, which supported duck-themed events, purchasing ducks, and creating duck-themed merchandise for students who were fans of What the duckduck. The theme of ducks has also been present in my work quite a bit, as its overall brand has defined my style with this sustained commitment to sharing this small symbol of fun.
The ducks have amassed over 340+ followers on Instagram, with most usually receiving over 500 views by both followers and non-followers. One instance, where I placed over 450 ducks in one afternoon, the page gained 150 followers by the end of the day!
Statistically, the ducks have been in quite a few states, such as the entire East Coast, as well as California, Washington State, and even some international places like Sweden and Ireland! This concept of finding a duck doesn’t just stop there. Finders are encouraged to take the duck with them and send pictures to the email linked to the Instagram account, or hide them again somewhere else for others to find. This has led to the ducks traveling quite a lot!
One of the biggest events ever held by the ducks was an Easter event during the Spring of 2025. For about a week, special “bunnies” were hidden in the buildings all over the Robert Morris University campus. Students were provided a hint through various instagram post, and if you found a bunny, your name was put into a drawing for a chance to win an Easter Basket.
The students were almost obsessed with the concept, and many of the bunnies were found within an hour or so of hiding them
There were other events for different holidays as well, such as for the beginning of fall, little plastic mushrooms were hidden near where a duck was placed, but there was no prize for finding them besides having them. And for Halloween, special “in costume” ducks were placed during the whole month of October 2025. People did their best to find all the varieties!
