Most ducks in the canal are gone

I only saw two families of ducks in the canal during my run. During the Spring I saw maybe 9 or 10 mother ducks and small ducklings. Now, the ducklings are big and capable of flying away, and apparently that is what they've done. The two families that I did see had ducklings that weren't really ducklings any more. They looked almost full-size. The water in the canal will be turned off in  mid-October, and the ducks will have to fly somewhere to spend the winter.