Botany Pond ducks (with videos)

Mordecai and Esther are still here, and looking fat, healthy and happy. I thought I’d show a few photos today in lieu of Readers’ Wildlife, and add a couple of videos. (I tried to get a photo of Esther quackling loudly, which she’s wont to do, but she didn’t perform yesterday, when I took all these photos and videos.)

First a photo of the ducks. Here’s Mordecai. Isn’t he handsome?

Here he is getting out of the pond after a bracing swim (It was chilly yesterday). Esther swims nearby (the camera was a bit wonky), about to follow him:

The lovely Queen Esther:

Here’s the pair on their favorite spot: the warm cement ledge on the east side of the Pond, where they rest and dry off in the afternoons. Esther has a quick drink, and they sun themselves and preen.

Mordecai looking around. I love his iridescent head.

The difference in appearance between males (drakes) and females (hens) is surely due to sexual selection. The females are well camouflaged in the grass, while males sacrifice some of that camouflage to attract females. We have no idea why females prefer yellow beaks and metallic green heads; the reason why females in different species prefer different traits is largely a mystery. (Of course there are some sex differences in traits, like antlers in elk and body size used for fighting in elephant seals, that are well understood; males win females–and offspring–by winning contests. Darwin called this the “law of battle.”)

Here they are both out of the water. Towards the end of this short video Mordecai engages in some stretching, which we call “duck yoga”. He also scratches his chin, though ducks don’t have chins.

Esther and Mordecai together on the edge. They’re both oiling their feathers. Mallards have an oil gland at the base of their tail, and they repeatedly dip their beaks in it and then spread the oil on their feathers to waterproof them. Hence the expression, “Like water off a duck’s back.” If you’ve ever seen a duck in the rain, you’ll see that the water just beads up and runs off their oily bodies.