The Big Duck, that quacky, yellow-billed landmark on Route 24 that has greeted visitors to the South Fork for 80 years, is flying its coop.

Well, sort of.

Ed Dumas, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, confirmed reports that the county-owned landmark, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will be moved about a mile up Route 24 to its former location near Firehouse Lane.

The move should be complete by the Big Duck's annual holiday lighting ceremony in November, Dumas added. Locals have lobbied for the new location for years.

A homage to Long Island's Peking Duck farms, the sculptured building was built in nearby Riverhead in 1931 by duck farmers Martin and Jeule Maurer. In 1987, the building was donated to the county.

Surrounded by woodland, the duck houses a "duck-a-bilia" souvenir shop and tourist center - a fact perhaps lost to Hamptons-bound drivers who whizz past the duck on their way to the beaches every summer.

LUIS PEREZ