Subject: Mallard eating FISH
Date: Aug 13 17:17 PD 1996
From: Ingrid Lae - ilae at scienceworld.bc.ca


Yesterday evening, around 7PM, I was walking with my Mom, around Deer Lake
in Burnaby, (a suburb of Vancouver, B.C. for those of you who don't know the
area).

We stopped at a place where there is access right up to the water, and were
watching a couple of Osprey put on a tremendous fishing display, when
suddenly there was a big commotion right at our feet. A female Mallard, who
had been quietly paddling around right in front of us, was now upended and
struggling with something beneath the water. She worked at it for a bit, and
when she finally righted herself, there was the rear end of a fish
protruding from her beak. Judging from the proportions of the end of the
fish that we could see, it was about 4 inches long and was still alive and
wiggling it's tail around. The Mallard looked a little perturbed and like
she was going to gag, but eventually sort of choked the fish down.

I have never seen a Mallard eat anything like this before and didn't think
that fishing was their thing. When I got home, I looked in three field
guides and "The Birder's Handbook" and none of them mentioned Mallards
eating fish.

Has anyone else ever witnessed anything like this? Is it a normal occurrance
that I've just never seen before?

Ingrid Lae