Hi everyone,



A few days ago, two Mallards began what has become an annual spring ritual in the yard bird arena.? Normally, the ducks that get logged on my yard list are flyovers or flybys.? But, for the third spring in a row - or more specifically, the second or third week of March each year ?- we get extended on-the-ground visits from two Mallards.? These birds appear to be a mated pair (although, yes I'm aware that ducks have a relatively liberal definition of seasonal monogamy in the avian world) and based on their behavior I suspect they are the same two birds as in previous years.? The two birds fly into the yard and partake of the seed that is spread each morning for the normal ground-feeding species we get.? But they also just 'hang out' for fairly long periods as well.? Periodically, the lure of our recirculating stream and 'pond' (in quotes because this body of water is maybe three or four feet across and a couple inches deep - designed to provide a natural-looking bathing spot for birds) proves too much and the drake and hen waddle over and plop into the water, munching on some of the algae in the water.? In fact, the first year they showed up, they actually did a water landing directly in the pond, which didn't seem to bother them too much despite the fact it had to be a bit of a bumpy landing.? Puddle ducks are aptly named if our little water feature is actually considered usable even by a subset of the duck population.



I believe this behavior - which has occurred like clockwork, and which doesn't last more than a couple weeks - is related to nesting season being upon us.? Mallards, of course, nest away from the water in grassy areas, and these same two ducks spend time wandering around the golf course fairway, and the surrounding grassy roughs as well - presumably the hen is looking for a suitable place to nest.? There is a pond within maybe 200 yards of the yard, and I suspect these two birds are residents that frequent that and other ponds in the area as well.? So maybe our yard and the conveniently reachable seed is for these two ducks kind of like stopping at a fast food joint while out on a long day house-hunting would be for us.?



One thing for sure - these birds are right up there with Evening Grosbeaks and Band-tailed Pigeons in their ability to decimate the birdseed budget .? They waddle around with their bills skimming the gravel path where the seed is scattered , scarfing it up like a couple of?ungainly vacuum cleaners.? If they don't get disturbed, they stay ?around for a half hour or so at a time and then eventually fly off.? Typically they show up relatively early in the morning for a short time, then drop in again more toward the end of the day.?



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net