Re: OT - BH

On 17 Apr 2006 08:24:55 GMT, Robin Fairbairns a gribouillé dans la
poussière...

indeed, ducks have no say in the matter of which drake mates with
them.

Oh I have seen one manage to swim away fast before the drake has the chance
to grab her by the scruff of the neck.

actually, i rarely[*] see drakes with a duck who's shepherding
ducklings. as penny says, the drake's interest is in nothing more
than mating: i would guess that the duck that vicky saw is giving out
the wrong pheromones, and they all think they're in for another go.

they most certainly _won't_ be "looking after" the ducklings.

The ducks aren't wonderful at that either, ducklings just do their best to
keep up with mum wherever she goes. I was at a garage in St Dunstans,
Canterbury one day when a duck wandered down the road followed by her
troop, leading them towards the level crossing. Two chaps from the garage
grabbed a cardboard box and hared after her to gather up the ducklings
before they disappeared down the gaps beside the rails.

For years one duck from our village pond would nest and hatch her brood in
a hole in a horse chestnut tree beside the pond. The hole is about 12 feet
up the tree but the ducklings did seem to survive their first outing.

Another duck nested atop a wooden post next to the farm shop. The top of
the post being about six inches square. When I spotted it there was one egg
on the post and the remains of several others on the ground round about.

I do love to see recently hatched ducklings on the water. They skitter
about at such speed and are so fluffy they look out-of-focus :)
--
Penny
If I took a railway cutting, could I train it up a wall?
umra Nicknames & Abbreviations http://www.umra.freeuk.com/nicks.html
.

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