WASHINGTON — The duck stops here.

After four weeks as Washington's newest tourist attraction, a mother mallard duck and her — count 'em — 11 ducklings were transported in a motorcade yesterday to a new and far more suitable setting in an area park.

The whole group took to the water like, well, ducks, although there was a bit of drama along the way.

The transfer was mapped out like a military operation for the mother duck, a capital celebrity since building a nest at the main entrance to the Treasury Department on Pennsylvania Avenue, right next door to the White House.

The Secret Service provided protection for the nesting mother over the past four weeks. Agents built and then extended metal barricades to keep tourists back from the nest, which the mother had constructed in a mulch pile surrounding a tree.

Even after appearances on national television and in newspapers around the world, the mother — whom some Treasury employees had named T-bill and Duck Cheney — seemed oblivious to the attention as she stuck to her job of keeping the eggs warm.

The hatching began Saturday afternoon and continued into a stormy night with heavy rain. Wildlife experts who had studied the nest believed there were nine eggs. It turned out there were actually 11, and all hatched.

Early yesterday, government biologists gently captured the mother duck and her yellow-and-black ducklings and put them in cages for the short ride to their new home.

Once at Rock Creek Park, the ducks were placed in a holding pen to get their bearings. But in only a few seconds, the mother mallard had found an opening and was headed to the nearby creek. Her ducklings scurried behind in a single line.

Duck No. 11 at first stumbling and landing on its back, its webbed feet fighting the air. It quickly righted itself, only to trip again and tumble down the muddy riverbank before landing with a plop in the water.

From there, all 11 ducklings quickly formed a line paddling after their mother and set out to explore their new surroundings.

"Ducks are born knowing how to navigate in water," said Laura Illige, chief park ranger at Rock Creek. "We have a healthy duck population here, and we are happy to take the new additions under our wings."