It's been stated that ducks, like this pair of male and female Mallards, actually mate for life. Now, my unscientific experiment with this pair lasted all of an hour...very authoritative. While observing this pair, they were never more then 2-3 feet apart, moved over a hundred yards together, mirroring the other's movements, and generally seemed happy with one another. (Hey, I said this was an unscientific experiment based on my kind-of-lazy observation and at no time did I hear or witness any behavior I would interpret as unloving or a bit disrespectful from either duck. I did witness the female, the one not as colorful, look back a couple times at the male with a look that I thought said, "Could you hurry along? Keep up dear. Stop showing off your fancy feathers to every cute female duck that floats by." But, this was just me layering human characteristics on this pair of ducks.
If the hour of close(!) observation was any indication, I would say these two are certainly a very involved pair of ducks. And that's my scientific conclusion.
Absolutely beautiful, Frank. I love ducks. And I'm glad to see you've finally gotten your ducks in a row.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I apologize for that. More or less. ;-)
Very keen observation. Are you sure she wasn't saying "get off my tail."
ReplyDelete@ Jacob - I may stick with ducks...at least there are always two. My other bird "captures" are rather solitary portraits.
ReplyDelete@ Gaelyn - I overheard a lot of quacking. He was being accused of admiring "tail feathers" I think but I didn't want to seem to take her side.
Great observation! Even though an unscientific experiment, I think you got a right judgement of the scene.... they look cute & together....
ReplyDelete- Pixellicious Photos
Beautifully sharp shot.
ReplyDeleteWas your study conDUCKted on a saturday evening, by chance?
ReplyDeleteWell they certainly are a handsome couple and I'm glad they are so devoted to one another!
ReplyDelete@ John - I am constantly amazed, after years of fine Nikkor lenses and bodies, to be able to digitally capture some of the images I have with my Lumix camera and Leica lens. They are amazing pocket cameras...one day I may even go to a D-SLR.
ReplyDelete@ B SQUARED - I can see that the Michigan air sharpened your wit and words. I so enjoyed your posts while your were away and you've arrived home in time for that near perfect Florida autumn weather. I will continue to conDUCK visual observations wherever possible.
Those are both female. Male mallards look quite different, like this: http://www.rosssea.info/pix/big/Mallard.jpg
ReplyDeleteI suppose they sill could be a couple though, not that there's anything wrong with that.