Mallard Ducks Spring 2024.....البطة البرية
#Beaumont #Alberta #Canada
#Camera #Nikon #Coolpix #P900 Time 9:10 am
#Weather #Cloudy with 7°C ( 45°F ) April 14 2024
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Ducks do not form long-term pair bonds, but instead form seasonal bonds, otherwise known as seasonal monogamy, in which new bonds are formed each season.
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Birds can be scared of dogs, especially if they perceive the dog as a threat .
Dogs either taunting them as they strut by or barking at them.
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During the breeding season, both male and female mallards can become aggressive, driving off competitors to themselves or their mate by charging at them.
Males tend to fight more than females, and attack each other by repeatedly pecking at their rival's chest, ripping out feathers and even skin on rare occasions.
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Both Male and female returned back from last year at the same location ....how ????
Mallards are one of the first ducks to arrive back on the breeding grounds in spring.
Some females return year after year to the same site.
Some ducks return to the precise location where they nested the previous spring, while others return to the same wintering area year after year.
The ability of migratory birds to find these specific locations after being away for several months is a form of navigation known as homing.
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The duck spirit animal appears to you when you have avoided something that won't let you move on with your life.
It keeps you stuck in a state that the duck has come to tell you it is time to surpass.
Let the waters calm down and find the peace you need by analyzing your emotions and being your own master.
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Mallard is one species, whereas ducks have more than 120 species.
Mallard is a wild breed, whereas ducks are also home grown.
Mallard is an animal with gregarious feeding habits and is actively forged, whereas ducks, in general, have several feeder varieties, including filter feeders and others.
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Male Mallards have a dark, iridescent green head and bright yellow bill.
The gray body is sandwiched between a brown breast and black rear.
Females and juveniles are mottled brown with orange and brown bills.
Both sexes have a white bordered, blue speculum patch in the wing.
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Majority of diet is plant material, including seeds, stems, and roots of a vast variety of different plants, especially sedge, grasses, pond weeds, smart weeds, also acorns and other tree seeds, various kinds of waste grain.
Also eat insects, crustaceans, mollusks, tadpoles, frogs, earthworms, small fish.
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The adulthood age for mallards is fourteen months, and the average life expectancy is three years, but they can live to twenty.
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The breeding male mallard is unmistakable,
with a glossy bottle green head and a white collar that demarcates the head from the purple tinged brown breast, grey brown wings and a pale grey belly.
The rear of the male is black, with white bordered dark tail feathers.
The bill of the male is a yellowish orange tipped with black,
with that of the female generally darker and ranging
from black to mottled orange and brown.
The female mallard is predominantly mottled,
with each individual feather showing sharp contrast
from buff to very dark brown, a coloration shared by most female dabbling ducks, and has buff cheeks, eyebrow,
throat, and neck, with a darker crown and eye stripe
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Ducks will dip their little heads down into the water and then force breath
out to blow bubbles in the water.
This is the way they clean mud, feed, dirt, and feather bits
that are stuck in their nostrils.
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Thank you in advance
Have a nice day
Tom