Carmody Thielen went with her family to watch her nephew at karate. Heading back to her father's car, she saw something out of place: a bright yellow rubber duck sitting on the windshield of Jason Thielen's Jeep Wrangler.

"I told him, 'Oh, my gosh, you've been ducked!' " she said. "I knew exactly what it was when I saw it. I thought it was really cool because I've seen it all around but it never happened to us."

Thielen, who is from central Minnesota, has kept close tabs on the "ducking" phenomenon, which has been spreading across the country since the start of the pandemic. The trend was started by Allison Parliament, who bought a Jeep Wrangler in the summer of 2020, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Parliament stopped at a discount store, saw rubber-duck bath toys and decided to scatter some around her partner's apartment. Then the Jeep fan saw a Jeep that caught her eye: She took one of her rubber ducks and attached a note that said, "Have a great day" and handed it to the Jeep owner.

He laughed and told her to post a photo on the internet. She did, and then ducking started to become a thing among Jeep owners.

Groups of ducked Jeepers have sprung up on social media — including the local page "Duck Duck Jeep Minnesota" — with drivers posting photos of ducks they've found on their cars. Some are painted as vikings, cows or come attached to cards directing them to their local Jeep duck social media pages. An Instagram page, "Duck Duck Jeep," has more than 50,000 followers.

Just a few months after Jason Thielen was ducked for the first time, he was ducked again. This time with a rubber duck painted in the colors of the American flag.

Both of the rubber ducks he received ended up with his young grandson, which is just fine with Carmody, who loves the uplifting trend.

"It's always been a Jeep thing between Jeep owners," she said. "They either see them on their Jeep and get a duck, or they see a Jeep and put a duck on there."