It's Valentine's Day, which means it's that time of year when the shelves of the local drugstores are overflowing with red cellophane-wrapped candy boxes, chalk-textured candy hearts and stuffed animals that dance while singing "Wild Thing." It's also the time of year that can be either incredibly romantic for those with a significant other or can leave those who are single yearning to find their perfect match.

Junior Corinne Strandjord created a Facebook group in spring 2005 that perfectly epitomizes that second set of UW students called I Wish I Could Find Love Like Those Ducks By the HUB. According to the group description, it is dedicated "for those whose life goal is to settle down with their perfect mallard."

It is also representative of all those happy duck couples that make their home at UW, waddling from Drumheller Fountain to the Quad in search of a sympathetic student to toss them something to eat.

"My first spring on campus I kept seeing that duck couple, and it made me nostalgic for that kind of companionship," Strandjord said. "But I made the group mainly because the ducks are really cute."

She's not the only one to think so, as the group has grown to more than 350 members. There is also a similar Facebook group called I Heart the Duck Couple!, which has 144 members.

Senior Timothy Christensen helped Strandjord create the group and has been a member since the first night. He said the idea came from a photo Strandjord had taken earlier and the creation of the group was a result of a bad date.

In spite of this, the group has yielded a success story from one ex-member, who posted on the group's wall that she had accomplished the goal of finding a "duck" and thus it was time to leave the group.

Since creating the group, Strandjord has not closely monitored it, so she is unsure of how quickly it grew. She had no idea that it had become as large as it is until she was contacted for this column.

"I am not surprised I am the only one who loves those ducks," she said.

Junior Kelli Milham, who decided to join this group last spring after noticing that one of her friends was in the group, is familiar with the ducks.

"I used to see those ducks around all the time and they were always together," Milham said. "I thought they were so cute and that maybe if those ducks had found each other, I would be able to find love too."

Next time you're contemplating the mystery of love, consider emulating the relationship of these faithful ducks instead of Hollywood couples like Angelina and Brad or Tom and Katie. Plus, the ducks are sure to have a lower divorce rate than these other admired couples.

So on this Valentine's Day, may you have good luck in finding your "perfect mallard."

Reach reporter Abby Walker at features@thedaily.washington.edu.