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| PERFORMER | David Rudman[1] |
| DEBUT | 1987 |
Mumford's duck is the avian assistant to the Amazing Mumford, seen during the late 1980s. His tricks with the duck often involve magically changing her quacks, with Maria typically as an unwitting victim when the trick inevitably goes awry.
She first appears in Episode 2293, where Mumford attempts to make the duck and Barkley swap voices. Instead, he causes Maria to switch voices with the duck. He tries a similar trick in Episode 2360, switching the duck's quacks with radio broadcasts. Later, in Episode 2415, Mumford intentionally gives Maria's voice to the duck, to give a lovestruck Placido Flamingo an alternate mate. She figures prominently in a non-magic storyline in Episode 2599, which centers on her and her duck husband hatching their egg.
Mumford's duck appears by name in the 1988 View-Master Interactive Vision video Magic on Sesame Street, as one of the characters whose voice can be changed by the player to that of Big Bird or Forgetful Jones. She also appears briefly in the 1990 home video Sing Yourself Silly!, where Mumford accidentally switches their voices, and the home video production Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years.
The puppet has also been used for nondescript background ducks, such as in "Baa Baa Bamba," "The Boogie-Woogie Piggies," and "Elmo's Ducks," the special Sesame Street, Special, and the 1991 home video Sing, Hoot & Howl with the Sesame Street Animals.