About the Book:

Happy, sad, and at times a little whimsical, Maria's Duck Tales is a collection of short stories of the sometimes complicated, sometimes heart-breaking but always enriching relationship between a woman and the wildlife who call her garden home.

Sharing her observations and interactions with the wild ducks, swans, opossums, ospreys and squirrels of Penataquit Creek, the stories are interwoven with fascinating facts about wildlife and insights into communicating with and understanding our wild friends. Maria's poignant and heartwarming memoirs, as well as the unique bond that she shares with her garden visitors, are, at times, touching, delightful, comical and heartrending.

Maria Daddino writes a weekly community column, "From Fourth Neck," for the western edition of The Southampton Press. Her essays have appeared in The Press Box in both the eastern and western editions of The Southampton Press, as well as in The Press of Manorville and Moriches. Her wildlife stories have also appeared in the South Shore Monthly, the Great South Bay Magazine and In the Eyes of the Wild: An Anthology of Wildlife Poetry and Short Stories.

Maria, a passionate gardener and wildlife enthusiast, invites and welcomes all wildlife into her garden. Her extensive native and natural garden, certified as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, has been on display in several East End garden tours. Maria lives in East Quogue with her collie Christy, her parrot Pablo and all of her "wild-friends."