The Duck Stops Here

The 15-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide building shaped like a Peking duck, known as the “Big Duck,” migrated back to its original home of Flanders early in October.
The Big Duck was built in 1931 by Martin Maurer, a duck farmer from Riverhead, and was purchased in 1980 by Pouran and Kia Eshghi, of Pouran Salon & Med Spa in North Shore Towers in Floral Park. In 1980, they opened up a take-out restaurant where they sold rotisserie ducks and eggs.
“We were in love with that huge duck,” Kia has often said. Describing the Big Duck as “a huge piece of sculpture,” he said that there are many generations of people who have fond memories of it and have taken their picture with it.
The couple eventually decided to donate the duck, which has been landmarked, to Suffolk County in 1987.
Last month, the Big Duck was moved back to its original nest on Route 24 in Flanders. Previously, it was four miles away in Hampton Bays’ Sears Bellows Country Park. The move took a total of 4.5 hours, taking place late during the night of Friday, October 5 and going into the early morning hours of Saturday, October 6.
“It was very nice,” Kia said of the move. “I was really happy about it.”
The duck weighs in at 20,000 pounds. During the move, Verizon and Long Island Power Authority workers accompanied it so that they could move telephone wires and electrical wires that were too low for the duck’s head to go under. Police also were on hand to provide an escort.
Now that the Big Duck has returned to Flanders, Kia said that there have been discussions about renovating the buildings near it and that he hopes to see it help revitalize the area.
“That place is going to be very, very important to the Town of Flanders,” Kia said. “The whole idea is making the original site as important as it was before.”