Nature Walks-Mallards

Hi everyone. Welcome to Nature Walks with Ruth. Today we're going to talk about an animal we all know and love, ducks. We'll spend some time watching the ducks that live near me and talk about the difference between wild and domesticated animals. Then we'll add a new entry to our field journal. Let's get started. I've been exploring the university that I'll be studying at this fall. This is the arboretum, which is a collection of different kinds of trees. It lies by a creek that winds all the way through campus. It's shady underneath the many different leaves and limbs and all kinds of cool creatures call this place home. I found a bachelor group of turkeys resting in the shade, completely unbothered by passerby. I also saw a least bittern, a very small and shy species of heron that was fishing quietly in the creek. I even saw a great blue heron, the least bittern's much larger cousin. With beautiful views everywhere I turn, the arboretum is easily my favorite place to go for a walk. It's also my favorite place to watch ducks. There's a big flock that spends the day dabbling in the creek or resting in the grass. They are mallards, the most abundant duck species in North America. Mallards live in wetland habitats, which are areas that get covered in water at least some of the time. Mallards aren't picky and many of the things that we humans build serve as artificial wetland. I've seen these ducks in backyard ponds, poking around in parking lots, even sitting in the middle of city streets. They're incredibly flexible and so they thrive in the oddest of places. The females of many duck species have similar looking plumage, but male mallards are brightly colored and easy to identify. However, I noticed there was a lot more variety in this flock than usual. I was able to get a closer look at this group of ducks in the grass. One of them looked a lot different than the others. He had a large bib of white feathers on his chest. It's not very common for wild animals to have patches of white in their coat or plumage. So although these mallards are wild, their feathers give away that somewhere in their family tree was a domesticated mallard. Domesticated means not wild, but rather animals that have been bred by humans, like dogs and cats or cows, chickens, ducks, and other farm animals. Ducks were domesticated thousands of years ago to be raised for meat and eggs. Sometimes a domesticated duck will get loose and if it joins a flock of wild mallards and has chicks, those domesticated traits will get passed down to the next generation. This flock is what results from that mixing, a medley of domesticated and wild traits. While I was observing the group, this pair of mallards walked up to me. They stood at my feet, waiting expectantly like a dog does when it wants a treat. This probably means that these ducks have been fed before. They've learned that if they approach humans, they'll sometimes get food. But you shouldn't feed ducks. Their usual diet of plants and insects is much better. Now that we've taken some time to get to know the mallard duck, let's add an entry to our field journal. I started out with the date and the name of the animal that I found. Then I wrote a short description. Mallards are a mid-sized species of dabbling duck with webbed orange feet and a block of violet feathers on their wings. Female mallards, as well as younger mallards, have splotchy brown plumage with dark stripes by the eyes and a dark colored bill. Males have a gray-brown body that's darker on the chest, a white necklace around the neck, a green head, and a yellow colored bill. They also have curled tail feathers. And in this flock, there was evidence of mixing between wild and domesticated mallards, most noticeably in the males. Next, I'll draw a sketch of the mallard ducks. I'll draw one of the mallards that I saw with domesticated plumage because these differences tell a story about the flock's history. It was about the same size and shape as the other mallards. This male had a browner body than usual and all white feathers across his chest and up his neck. His bill was a little darker as well, more of an olive color than yellow. Finally, I'll write down some notes about their behavior. The wild mallards would walk right up to me, expecting to be fed. Domesticated animals are bred to be less afraid of humans, and ducks can learn by observing one another. So I wonder if they're more comfortable around humans because of the flocks mixing with domesticated ducks. I also saw a lot of interaction between the mallards and I wonder how their patchwork plumage affects their social dynamics. Do the female mallards prefer certain types of plumage? Does it cause confusion in the flock or does it not matter at all? Some of my own research is going to focus on these kinds of questions. And with that, we've finished up our journal entry. I'm going to keep an eye on these ducks during my walks in the arboretum. I wonder how the flock will change over time. Will the ducks continue to carry the domesticated traits on their feathers or will that disappear in future generations? I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Thanks so much for coming on a nature walk with me. I hope that you learned something new today. If you've been inspired to keep a field journal of your own, come by the Palmer Public Library to show us. We'd love to see the amazing things you've observed in nature. Until next time, take care everyone.