Hi Linda and Tweeters,

It is the ducks and it is part of their courtship.
They are doing elaborate but very brief displays when
they do this. An excellent explanation of this and
how to watch for what they are doing is in the first
volume of the Stokes bird behavior guides. You will
be surprised as much as the Stokes were when they
first learned how little they actually knew about
those most familiar of birds, the Mallard. I was
watching them display this morning, the best way to
see it is to pick one male duck out and concentrate on
that one or you will miss it.

Kathy
Roosting in S King County

--- Linda Phillips <sweetmem at juno.com> wrote:

> I need your help again Tweeters-
> I was at Wallace Swamp Creek Park and I heard an
> unfamiliar whistle. I
> was near the pond at the time and there were 10
> mallards in the pond. The
> high pitched whistle seemed to be coming from the
> other side of the pond
> so I walked over there, then the sound seemed to
> come from where I had
> just been. I couldn't see any other birds around
> except the mallards and
> the periodic whistle continued. I concluded that the
> mallards must be
> whistling. As I watched them it was hard to tell if
> they were or not but
> each time I heard the whistle they splashed around.
> Perhaps it was an
> unseen predator and they were showing their anxiety.
> any interpretations
> of this scene would be appreciated.
> Linda Phillips
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
>
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
>




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