Ducks

Evidence of Breeding Season:

Monday, April 11th. I sat by the lake staring at a pair of ducks for twenty or so minutes. I saw the female floating in the water alone, followed by a male duck swim towards her. Then the male duck shown above chased the other male duck away. The pair stayed floating in the water alone for a few minutes until the female duck tucked her head beneath her wing, the male duck followed. The female duck then jumped on a bit of land and proceeded to stick her head back behind her wing, the male duck, again, followed by jumping onto the land and sticking his head back behind his wing.

I am not sure why they did this, I presume because it was cold. But I found it nice to watch. Every duck I saw that day was in a pair, I guess they prefer the company of others.

Update (more evidence of breeding season):

April 14th, Friday of that same week, 5-ish in the evening time. I had another experience with this species of ducks, this one not so pleasant. Walking around Capital Lake, there were six male mallards (drakes) forcing themselves upon a very unhappy female mallard. She was running away, and they were biting her head. I was not expecting this, therefore I was not sure if this is natural or not. I tried chasing them away but the female duck flew away while all six of the males followed.

Apparently this is a somewhat common experience, especially in parks where ducks are crowded together.  The reason females are likely to be ganged upon by multiple drakes is because the ratio between male and female ducks is inconsistent in human modified areas, there is a higher percentage of males than females. The females have more physical demand during breeding season, they must lay their eggs and take care of their young. They are also in far more danger considering they are immobile for four weeks as they incubate their nests; which is especially vulnerable in human landscaped areas, i.g. parks, because there is far less foliage to hide.

Thoughts:

Admittedly, some observations are more pleasant than others. It just seems awful to chalk it all up to nature. It is difficult to judge the actions of another species to those of humans, yet it is impossible not to see similarities and attach similar feelings. I am not mad at the drakes, because I know it is their instinct to mate. It is a little disheartening to know that humans are indirectly involved in their actions due to the larger percentage of female deaths we have a part in causing.

Climate change will effect waterfowl: migration patterns, drought, sea level rise. They will have to adapt like the rest of us.