I was at the east end of Lord Hill Park today, and in the flat by the river,
which has grown up with 8 foot tall trees of willow and spruce, I heard a
duck. It was quacking very quickly and loudly so I peered into the trees but
saw nothing. I could hear the duck, and we were both moving in the same
direction, and then I saw it briefly as it flew just above the height of the
small Christmas tree sized forest before descending. It was a male mallard.
It continued quacking and I saw it again fly just to the height of the trees
then drop. On the third time it cleared the trees and landed about 20 feet
into a meadow. A coyote immediately came out of the same area, running in
that determined loping trot they have. Although coyotes are not uncommon,
seeing one in the middle of the afternoon is unusual. When it had closed
about half the distance, the duck flew into the air again, and kind of
jumping about 10 feet in the air and covering about 30 feet or so before
landing. At first I thought maybe it was hurt and could not fly well. The
coyote just kept coming, the duck jumping and quacking and staying ahead of
the predator. After several hops covering about 150 yards the coyote
stopped, and looked around for a second, then changed direction towards the
river. The duck started quacking loudly and quickly again and flew in the
new direction that the coyote was now heading and landed again about 50 feet
or so ahead of the coyote. They both disappeared back into the trees and
from time to time I could hear the quacking and assumed they continued this
hop scotch. I suspect the bird was attempting to lure the predator away
from its young or mate?

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County