Kamo River is the most famous river in Kyoto, running through the prefecture alongside popular areas like Gion. The river’s name, ‘Kamogawa’, literally means duck river, and it’s home to plenty of wild waterfowl.

About a decade ago, some of those ducks came across a small pond within the grounds of the nearby Yobo temple. Realising that the temple grounds are a much safer place to raise their young than the Kamo River, the ducks started flying to the pond to lay their eggs.

Since then, when the young ducklings reach a certain age, the ducks will make the move back to the river where they can make new duck friends and start the process all over again.

As the years go by, this tradition has been attracting more local attention, and when the time came this year for the ducks to make their move, many of the neighbourhood citizens came out to do whatever they could to help.

As you can see in the video, the locals help guide the ducks and form a protective human barrier around them. These lucky birds even have a police escort to make sure they don’t come to any harm.

The fairly large procession made their way through the town, and finally, everyone cheered when the ducks made it to their new home.